Market Drayton boss impressed with subs' impact despite cup exit
Dan Dawson admitted his Market Drayton Town squad options have given him food for thought as league action returns.
Drayton bowed out of the Macron Cup at the first hurdle with a 3-1 defeat to Eccleshall on Saturday as North West Counties league action was parked temporarily.
Boss Dawson was satisfied with how his side performed despite the league cup exit, not helped by falling behind to an early penalty. Callum Griffiths' penalty did halve the deficit before half-time but Drayton could not find an equaliser and the hosts bagged a third.
Dawson was encouraged by the impact of his second-half substitutes, including Max Raine, Sid Gilford, Isaac Shaw and Jayden Tang as he ponders Saturday's visit of ambitious high-flyers Stafford Town.
"Pretty much everyone who came off the bench made an impact and changed the game," said boss Dawson, whose side are 17th in First Division South. "Max did well, Sid did well, Tangy did well, Isaac did well. We started playing in the last 20 minutes, which is a bit frustrating, but good for the lads.
"It was a pretty even game. We gave away an early penalty which is never easy to come back from. But we rallied and played some really good stuff to cause them problems and score from a penalty to go in 2-1.
"Eccleshall are a good team but I think we more than matched them for 90 minutes. We didn't create enough but they didn't either."
Drayton also welcomed back midfielder Ollie Jones from a lengthy injury lay-off.
"We probably deserve more points but we haven't got them and that's the most important thing," Dawson added. "Stafford are trying to win the title and will be bang up for it. We'll have to bite down and dig in."
