‘I don’t care if we stink if we win’
ARELIEVED Dave Challinor hailed an “important three points” to take his County side one huge step closer to automatic promotion - despite admitting that The Hatters “stunk the place out” in a battling 1-0 win over AFC Wimbledon at Edgeley Park on Easter Monday.
In a cagey, scrappy affair, substitute Odin Bailey’s 85th minute stunner broke the deadlock, and the resistance of a stubborn Wimbledon defence, to move The Hatters a potentially pivotal four points clear atop of League Two after two wins from two over the Easter weekend.
The win, and the magnitude of the three points, was magnified by the jeopardy of a missed James Tilley penalty midway through the first half after a foul on striker Omar Bugiel by Fraser Horsfall, as County huffed and puffed for large parts of the game without breaking through a resolute away defence.
“I’m not sure I was ‘worried’ it wouldn’t come, but I was definitely frustrated.
“Do I think we deserved the game, no - do I think we deserved to lose the game, no,” said Challinor.
“The longer it went on, we were looking for a spark - we had a couple of moments here and there, but then it’s a great ball by Ibby and a brilliant finish by Odin to win us the game.”
Challinor had gone with an unchanged starting line-up from the 0-3 thrashing of Forest Green Rovers at the New Lawn on Good Friday, and admitted that he had not wanted to “tinker” too much with his line-up following that impressive display.
The County boss also credited Johnnie Jackson’s Wimbledon side, as they proved a tough nut to crack at an expectant Edgeley Park amid a faltering play-off push for the South London side.
“I thought we were brilliant on Friday, but we were ineffective on Monday.
“We didn’t want to change too much from Friday and in the end we went with the same side but my frustrations will always come because I know the capabilities of the players and it frustrates me when we don’t see that.
“You have to credit opposition in games like that - you don’t have a divine right to win games, and sides will counter what you’re doing and set up in ways to be effective.
“You only have to look at the game on Sunday between two of the best sides in Europe - it was drab and probably frustrating as a ‘home’ supporter in that game, but there was great defensive play on show.
“As much as I don’t like it, if we stink the place out and we’re ugly to watch in a particular game but we get the three points, we’ll absolutely take that,” said Challinor.
The win also makes it three successive victories without conceding a goal for The Hatters, as well as two successive fixtures without goalkeeper Ben Hinchliffe needing to make a save.
“Everyone has played their part in that.
“We certainly don’t set up to be defensive, but we work incredibly hard off the ball - and there should be a desperation to keep the ball out of the net.
“Ultimately if you can minimise chances on your goal, work hard and be desperate to keep the ball out of your penalty area, you can then look to win games on one moment of magic which we did on Monday.”
With County moving four points clear of second-placed Mansfield and six clear of fourthplaced MK Dons in the race for automatic promotion, the good news continues for The Hatters this week with the impending return of Aston Villa loanee Louie Barry.
Barry made a stunning impression at Edgeley Park at the start of the season, scoring a club record seven goals in seven games to fire his side to the top of the table, before a gut-wrenching hamstring injury back in October which left the former Barcelona prospect sidelined for over five months.
Barry returns to “full contact” training with County this week, and Challinor believes the youngster could be in line for a return to action as soon as this weekend.
“It is out of our control a little bit.
“The plan with Aston Villa was that we could have him involved against Colchester - we would hope we can bring that forwards to Sutton, but we’ll have that conversation with Villa this week and see how Louie gets on.
“Nobody is going to put Louie at risk, but as you’d expect, he’s desperate to get involved. At worst I would say next Tuesday at Colchester, at best we could look at Saturday.”
This Saturday sees a trip to relegation-battling Sutton United, who have pulled themselves out of the bottom two against the odds under new boss Steve Morison with a remarkable four successive wins.
“Sutton is always a tough place to go and that hasn’t changed with their position in the league.
“They are playing for something that’s important to them, as are we, and we have to go there and make sure that our aim is more important to us than theirs is to them.”
“I’d expect Sutton will be aggressive on the day, and it makes for an exciting game.
“We’re in a great position, a position everyone wants to be in, and we’ll do everything in our power to play for three more points and make that happen.”