Lethargic finale
THE Hatters again struggled on the road in the National League North, succumbing to a 3-2 defeat at promotion-chasing Brackley Town at St James Park on Saturday.
County had previously never lost in league action at the home of their highflying visitors, and overturned an early goal by midfielder Shane Byrne to take a 2-1 lead in at the break with goals from Chris Smalley and Matty Warburton.
But Jim Gannon’s side again failed to maintain their performance for the full ninety minutes, and two second-half strikes from the Saints’ leading goalscorer Aaron Williams condemned County to a first defeat since October – and increased the scrutiny on Gannon.
The defeat leaves County trailing a mammoth fifteen points behind their National League North counterparts, and four points off the play-off hunt with The Hatters’ promotion rivals holding a game in hand over Gannon’s men.
County did field an unchanged 3-4-2-1 lineup from the side which had started at Southport in the FA Trophy replay three days previously. Stephen O’Halloran retained the captain’s armband, with both former County captains – Michael Clarke, who returned to the squad after recovering from a knock, and Harry Winter – named among the substitutes.
Kev Wilkin’s in-form home side are in the midst of an impressive nine month unbeaten home record, with Gannon’s underperforming side one of only two teams to defeat The Saints on their own turf this year; in a 3-0 league win in January.
But, whilst Wilkin’s Brackley have gone from strength to strength since finishing one position above County last season, The Hatters have struggled to find consistency so far this campaign – and so the tie in the bitter winter conditions on Saturday proved a much more daunting prospect for County.
In truth, the majority of the first half was entertaining between two exciting attacking sides in a league often consisting of rough-and-tumble physicality and long balls out of defence – and The Hatters deservedly took a slender lead in at the break.
But not before midfielder Shane Byrne had capitalised on a Bohan Dixon to slide past Ben Hinchliffe early on, as County were left to rue individual errors once again this season after a promising start to proceedings.
But The Hatters refused to crumble in the face of an in-form side who now held the lead, and defender Chris Smalley – who had played his way back into contention with a superb showing in the 3-0 win at Southport last Wednesday – expertly converted Jason Oswell’s knockdown from a Warburton corner to the back post.
Gannon later lamented the fact that his players had failed to follow his instructions of delivering set pieces to the back post on a regular basis – with County’s levelling goal coming from the only corner which was hung up to the far post – but it was from open play that The Hatters began to cause their hosts no end of problems.
The in-form Warburton, now on fourteen goals for the campaign, had spurned two glorious opportunities one-on-one with Saints stopper Dan Lewis – before eventually finishing the most difficult opportunity of the half with aplomb.
Crucially, County’s midfield were on form throughout a battling first half, and Jimmy Ball epitomised County’s endeavour with a superb challenge on Byrne – before the typically tireless Gary