Martin Voller spoke to the elated Concord Rangers manager after the Essex club sealed County Cup success…
Concord Rangers manager Danny Cowley heaped praise on his players after they crushed Billericay Town 5-0 to retain the Essex Senior Cup on Monday night.
Cowley, who has spent eight seasons in charge of the Canvey Island-based club, claimed the current crop are “the best group of players I’ve worked with”.
Concord’s jubilant manager said after the trophy presentation: “We’ve had a fantastic season and everybody’s been telling me for the last two months what a great season it’s been, but for me you’ve got to convert.
“We’ve looked fatigued in the last four games, so for us to go and find the levels that we did was fantastic.
“I’m so pleased and proud of the boys because they are the best group of players I’ve worked with, both as character and in terms of quality. It was important tonight that they left their mark on our football club and they had their moment and now they’ll be remembered forevermore for winning this competition.”
A brace from Joe Gardner along with strikes from Tony Stokes, Danny Glozier and Lewis Taaffe sealed the silverware as the Conference South side romped to victory over their Ryman Premier League opponents who finished the game with nine men.
“Ultimately I suppose they’ll be bemoaning the two players they had sent off,” said the Rangers boss, “but I think that was because of our good play. Some of our passing, our movement, and some of the goals were great.
“I thought it was [Tony] Stokesey’s final, he was tremendous up front. Joe [Gardner] was terrific too, but we’re all cogs in the wheel at Concord Rangers, from the chairman all the way down, so there were some great individual performances but it was a collective tonight and I thought one to 16 we were superb.”
Concord became the first side to retain the Essex Senior Cup in a decade and Cowley continued: “I’m really pleased for the players because since the 28th of June I’ve been on their case and they’ve had to work exceptionally hard. I’m not an easy person to play under because I demand very high standards and I’m relentless and tonight the boys were relentless.
“It’s been a great night and another night in the history of our football club, we’re a small club but we’ve got big hearts.”
Asked if his players can win the cup for a third successive year, Cowley replied, “We’ll see, we’ll be trying.”