We were weak, admits Gannon
COUNTY boss Jim Gannon accused his players of being “too weak” in Saturday’s 3-2 defeat at high-flying Brackley Town, as the pressure intensified on the Hatters chief and his players.
Gannon’s men failed to follow up on their midweek thrashing of Southport in the FA Trophy, slipping to defeat despite going in at the interval 2-1 up at St James Park.
Kev Wilkin’s in-form side turned the game on its head to maintain their impressive nine-month unbeaten run on home soil, and Gannon admitted his players faded.
“I think a few of the players were too weak,” he said. “I was always worried about the fatigue aspect of things after the Southport game in midweek, and quite a few of the lads just didn’t have enough to make it through both games.
“We looked a fantastic side towards the end of the first half and then we dipped, and we weren’t able to pick ourselves up again towards the end of the game when we’re 3-2 down to two really poor goals.
Gannon had expressed concern throughout the week that his side may suffer a hangover from the midweek Trophy replay in Southport – and, despite County securing their path into the next round of the competition unscathed, the Hatters chief admitted the long trip to Oxfordshire proved a step too far for his side.
“You look at the side which beat Southport and think they have earned the respect of being named as the same starting line-up for the Brackley game, and then also I look at the bench and wonder if any of the lads on the bench deserve to start the game – and the answer is perhaps not, because they didn’t add much in terms of intensity when they came on.
“So the truth of it is that we have to work our best players really hard and hope they can make it through these elements of fatigue.”
Gannon’s desire to protect his two leading goalscorers, Jason Oswell and Matty Warburton, after the Southport tie ended in disaster for The Hatters, with Warburton suffering a gruesome knee injury after a horrendous Jimmy Armson challenge late in the game at Brackley, while the league’s top scorer Oswell was controversially hauled off by Gannon midway through the second half.
The County boss responded to Hatters supporters who were left bewildered by the change, explaining he had been “really disappointed” with Oswell’s contribution in the final third as County looked to grab a goal on the counter attack.
The change also magnified County’s threadbare striking options, as Oswell’s removal saw attacking midfielder Bohan Dixon utilised as the lone striker to little effect against The Saints’ miserly defence.
“I’ve said this to Jason before, as a goalscorer he is very crafty and clever around the box but around the rest of the pitch, I counted fifteen occasions on Saturday where he gave the ball back to Brackley and didn’t contribute to getting us up the pitch,” Gannon said.
“Now I don’t think Bohan did any differently up there, but I was really disappointed with Jason’s ability to take pressure off us and I wanted to get Matty and Bohan up there to try and make things happen.”
Gannon and County’s miserable afternoon was compounded with the late injury to Warburton, with Armson going into the book for the tackle.
Despite his best efforts to continue, Warburton hobbled off to leave County to play the remaining ten minutes with ten men having used all three substitutes – and the Hatters’ in-form attacking midfielder later confirmed on social media that, although no bones had been broken, he faces a lengthy lay-off with ligament damage in his left knee.
Gannon commented immediately after the tie that it was “too soon” to predict how long one of County’s shining lights would be out of action, although there were fears earlier this week that Warburton would miss around two months of action.
“People already know my thoughts on it, I never send my players out to intentionally hurt people,” he said.
“Their manager is probably thinking it’s a good tackle, it gets our best player off the pitch and stops our attack but that’s the problem with the British game, and that’s why there’s more injuries in the British game than any other country.
“Matty’s got a really nasty gash and it’s nothing but a yellow card according to the referee.”