Stockport County manager Jim Gannon praises Chesterfield's 'game plan' in FA Cup win for Spireites

The Spireites triumphed 7-6 on penalties after a 1-1 draw in 90 minutes to progress to the FA Cup first round.

Gannon was left ‘underwhelmed’ by his team’s performance but felt Town boss John Pemberton got his tactics spot on.

“Credit to Chesterfield because every time I have seen them I have seen a couple of weaknesses but they seemed to have improved,” Gannon said.

“I thought their game plan was really good – three up front to stop us playing out from the back.

“It could easily have been a draw at Chesterfield last week if we didn’t maximise our opportunities.

“I thought there were quite a few underwhelming performances from us and I was having to do a little bit too much leadership throughout the game.

“It is disappointing because it is not like we have played well and been beaten. We have been a little underwhelming today and they (Chesterfield) have worked really hard and always stayed in the game.

“Like I said in my programme notes, they (Chesterfield) will always stay in the game, they will always be mentally strong and they will always see it out with effort and endeavour.

“Chesterfield got their goal and then it was a question of the psychology of the final five minutes and the penalties and they took their chance and we didn’t.

"It looked like our lads weren’t really coping with the changes Chesterfield were making, they weren’t figuring out the problems and even the drive that was needed to break the lines.”

County goalkeeper Ben Hinchliffe, who thumped his penalty into the net, managed to save Josef Yarney’s spot-kick but could not keep out any of the others.

“You do your homework and I think I went the right way for every one apart from maybe one but the standard of penalties from them was very good,” Hinchliffe said.

On Milan Butterfield’s late equaliser, he added: “We know how dangerous Tom Denton is and how dangerous their long-throw is and we thought we had done enough to prevent it but it has just spilled to the lad and he has just smashed it.”