Positive ploy for play-off dreams
COUNTY boss Simon Rusk says his side need to srick to their beliefs and remain positive ahead of the National League playoffs, with The Hatters looking to hold on to third spot as the final day of the regular season approaches this Saturday.
After a frustrating 1-1 draw with struggling Woking at Edgeley Park on Saturday, Rusk’s men travel to Yeovil Town this weekend looking to end their regular league season on a high.
County currently sit one place above fourth-placed Hartlepool United, with only the sides finishing in second and third advancing to the play-off semifinal stage. The sides finishing from fourth to seventh do battle in a quarter-final ‘eliminator’ next month.
Saturday’s stalemate, played in front of over 2,000 County fans for the first time since March 2020, saw The Hatters lay siege to the goal of the struggling visitors, with the hosts striking the woodwork four times on the day and coming within whiskers of a winning goal with the very last kick of the game.
“I’m not sure we can do much more, other than sticking the ball in the back of the net – especially in the second half. I don’t want to sound disrespectful, but on another day, that’s five or six goals,” said manager Rusk.
“It’s just a mixture of lady luck and things not going for us on the day – three or four times, the ball cannons off the crossbar or post.
“We do have to stick the ball in the back of the net, we must own our side of the problem, but I’m not sure how useful that (attitude) would be to the players right now.
“They pushed as hard as they could – we beat Woking 4-1 earlier in the season, and I would argue that we created more on Saturday in terms of clear goalscoring chances.”
Over 2,000 County supporters returned to Edgeley Park for the first time in fourteen months on the day – a first trip back to the ground since a 1-1 draw with Barnet just prior to the start of the Covid-19 national lockdown.
Despite falling behind to a Woking side coming into the tie on the back of ten straight defeats, the home fans saw their side pull themselves level on the stroke of half-time through a Ben Gerring own goal – only to be left frustrated by several near misses after the break.
“We’re frustrated, because we wanted to give the fans a victory today and to do it in style, but football doesn’t always work like that,” said Rusk.
“It’s just brilliant to have the fans back. It was a special day – it would have been nice to give them the three points, but I do think that the fans who were in the ground on the day could see how hard we pushed and how much the players are giving.
“We just have to stick to our beliefs, stick to what we do, be positive about what we do – and I know the fans will be right behind us in that.”
With their dominance going without reward in the second half, The Hatters were left rueing the absence of prolific Irishman Paddy Madden and target man Harry Cardwell on the day, with both ruled out through injury.
It was initially believed that Cardwell was left out as a precaution ahead of Saturday’s trip to Yeovil and, importantly, the National League play-offs, with Madden seemingly set to miss the play-off campaign – however, Rusk appeared to keep his cards close to his chest on a potential return for both forwards, in what would be a huge boost to Hatters supporters.
“Hopefully, moving forward we’ll have some bodies back in,” he said.
“One of those absences on Saturday was precautionary – we do have to think about what’s coming up over the next month or so, and we’re hopeful.
“There’s no dead certs in terms of having players back, but we’re hopeful.”