Bay manager Mick Mulhern was a happy man after watching his side score a late winner to progress to the semi finals of the League Cup after a hard fought game at Newton Aycliffe. “It was very pleasing. It’s been the story of recent weeks that in a lot of the games, we’ve stayed in the game right to the end and that was the most important thing today. I think that late on their manager was happy to go to penalties but I was thinking ‘can we create one more chance and just get in the box and have another go?’. And it worked. I thought the penalty was clear cut, there were no arguments from their manager Colin (Stromsoy) either. Macca (Craig McFarlane) confirmed he’s taken them before and he’s got a calm head. Kieran picked the ball up and wanted to take it. It was great to see him so confident, and if it had gone to penalties he’d have taken one of them, but as soon as Craig had the ball, he’s such an experienced player I didn’t have any doubts that he would score.
“I was happy about how we went about our business today. They’re a decent side and want to play football the right way, both teams wanted to play football rather than just launch it forward.
“We’ve been good out of possession, we’ve been hard to break down, they couldn’t play through us and their chances were limited which was pleasing and that’s been the theme from recent weeks. We were a threat going forward, so it’s been a good night overall when we’ve done the right things the majority of the time and finally got some just rewards after all the recent weeks against the top teams so that was nice.
“I’m pleased for everybody I think they’ve deserved it. The midfield grafted with Ryan and Peter going forward Ryan constantly trying to cause problems and making them defend and you cannot ask for any more than that. Likewise the two wide players Olly and Luke, they worked tirelessly for the team.
“The substitutions were positive and they all worked out well. Andrei was suffering with a headache at half time so we went with the change straightaway. Ramma (Stephen Ramsey) went on and he had a great second half. Olly was on a yellow and Kieran’s a goal scorer so in the last 15 minutes let him go on and see if he could win it. I’d have regretted it if we hadn’t won it and I’d had a forward sitting on the bench. Callum had cramp so he was honest and that was a straight change when Luke came on.
“With such a young goalkeeper the decision before the game was to go with two centre halfs to make sure they could look after him and marshal the defence. Luke’s a great centre half but he’s a young lad as well. I thought that in the pressure situation of a cup game like this it was sensible to have the experience in there. The pair of Ibby and Callum have done ever so well, as has everybody else especially from a defensive point of view and then Luke has come on and he’s cool and calm so that was pleasing. So everything’s come off pretty well. Everyone in the squad has played their part today and it’s nice to get in the semi final!”
