Gavin Cowan: AFC Telford's Trophy win was full deserved
Delighted boss Gavin Cowan insists he was not shocked by AFC Telford springing an FA Trophy upset at Hartlepool.
The Bucks made it five wins in a row and progressed to the last 16 with a 2-1 success at the Super 6 Stadium.
And Cowan said: “I’m really pleased with the performance; the result is obviously what you come for.
“But if you look at the performance itself, it’s not like we’ve come and won ugly. We’ve been dominant, we’ve enjoyed a lot of the possession, and really, we’ve been better than them, which is why we’ve won the game.”
It wasn’t just Cowan and the Bucks followers who praised their side after the victory.
Hartlepool manager Richard Money lauded Bucks goalscoring duo duo Daniel Udoh and Amari Morgan-Smith’s performances as an example to his own team, who sit midway in the Conference, a league above the Bucks.
“It was a great day. I can’t speak highly enough of the lads and their application,” he added. “We wanted to come here and revel in it and enjoy it, but I didn’t feel as though we were ever the second-best team.
“I think people’s default opinion is that because they’re in a higher league that they’ll be better than us. We were well worth the victory, and I’m sure Richard (Money) would agree with that.”
Asked about who the Bucks might fancy facing in the next round, Cowan added: “It’s the joy of the cup, you have to play the hand that you’re dealt.
“The whole sense of achievement comes from having overcome whatever’s been put in front of you. If that’s a Leyton Orient, or if that’s a so-called lower league side, we’ll want to progress to the next round and we’ll approach the tie in the same way as we did at Hartlepool.
“We’re going in the right direction. We have to enjoy it whilst it’s going well, but there will be ups and downs.
“And when it’s not going so well, we have to remember these moments and all stick together; that will be the proof of our strength of character.
“It wasn’t that long ago that we had three defeats on the bounce in the league; now we’ve won five on the trot. And with this group of players I don’t see why that has to slow down.”
