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'County's great tonic'
Simon Smedley10/10/2007
DELIGHTED Stockport County boss Jim Gannon praised both his players and the travelling Hatters faithful after Tuesday night's morale-boosting Johnstone's Paints Trophy victory at Macclesfield.
Full-back Paul Tierney surged into the box to fire home the only goal of the game in the second half, and afterwards Gannon was full of praise for his side, who, going into the game, were hampered by a lengthy list of injured and ill players.
County now move into the Northern quarter-finals of the competition, with a possible Wembley appearance just four games away.
Gannon said: "This result is a great tonic for us, and that's not just for the players and the staff, but for the fans too.
"It was a horrible night to watch a game of football, especially when you are stood in an open end, but I think the fans enjoyed themselves in the end.
"I was really pleased with the attitudes of the players, especially the younger lads.
"It was a fantastic game of football and I think we fully deserved to win.
"Tuesday was a great night's entertainment, and I hope, for the fans, we get a decent draw in the next round now."
After Saturday's second league defeat on the spin at the hands of Barnet, County were then seriously hampered by injuries and illness ahead of the Macclesfield tie.
At least nine senior players were unavailable, but thankfully the Hatters did get a side out who fully deserved their victory, although Gareth Owen limped out of the game in the first half after suffering medial ligament damage.
Gannon added: "The only concern we did have was whether or not we could get six of our top 11 appearance makers starting so that we didn't get ourselves a £5,000 fine.
"But we did that, and it did give us the opportunity to blood a few younger players and see where they're at.
"We needed to see if they can do a job for us in the coming weeks, and the coming year for that matter.
"Some of the players did themselves proud."
Centre-back Owen was due to see a specialist on Wednesday about his injury, with Gannon fearing that he could be out for a couple of weeks.
Meanwhile, the likes of Adam Griffin, James Smith, Gary Dicker, Dominic Blizzard and Keith Briggs should be available for selection again for Sunday's League Two trip to Darlington [2pm ko].
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