'Immense' captain Dean is boss Cowan’s favourite Brackley Town player

And Cowan feels it was 'very apt' that his 'immense' captain got the winning goal in the 1-0 Vanarama National League North victory at home to Marine last weekend.

The Saints were made to work hard by the strugglers but eventually got over the line thanks to Dean's second-half header.

And Cowan was full of praise for his skipper after the game.

"The lads are always very vocal about saying Gaz is my favourite - and I say 'yeah, he is my favourite, and the reason is that he's committed more that anybody, he's dedicated more than anybody, his concentration and focus and professionalism is through the roof," Cowan said.

"Other managers say they haven't got favourites, but they're liars.

"My favourites aren't based on their hair colour or whether they're good looking, have nice clothes and are good guys, it's based on whether they're committed to what we do on the pitch and what we're trying to do as a football club. Gaz typifies that.

"It's very apt he got the winner. He was immense."

The win against Marine was Brackley's third successive victory in all competitions, and they have kept clean sheets in all of them.

"Marine were excellent, they really worked into the game and started to play some good football that kept us on the back foot," Cowan said.

"I thought we were worthy of the win, we could have been better but you'd rather not be at your total best and get wins because we've perhaps played better against other sides and not got the three points.

"Yes, we would like the performance and the result, but on Saturday, we just took the result.

"We spoke at half-time about being a bit braver and we lacked a bit of energy and enthusiasm so we had a few choice words at half-time, and credit to the lads.

"Because of Marine's league position, the lads maybe took it for granted and I was very vocal before the game about not doing that because they're a very good side who were promoted for a reason.

"It could have been different on another day and we need to be a bit more energetic and enthusiastic because these games are as big as any other at home.”

Cowan added: "It's three successive wins and it's really the standard we hold for ourselves.

"Results are the most important thing.

"There's a lot for us to work and I hope that's a reminder not to get complacent, but we finished on a positive in the second half. We were mentally really strong.

"Alfie Bates drove us forward from the midfield and the introduction of Scott Pollock was critical for us because of his energy.

"Morgan Roberts wasn't feeling well during the game so to have someone like Scott coming on is really beneficial.

"The players were excellent second half from a mentality perspective."

Brackley now turn their attentions back to the FA Cup as they host Ramsgate in the third qualifying round on Saturday.

"It's going to be a really tough game," Cowan said.

"We know it's lower league opposition in terms of where we are but they're clearly on a run and they're definitely a cup team so we definitely won't be taking it lightly.

"The FA Cup is what it's all about and they will want to come here and cause an upset.

"The game last weekend is really good prep for that because we're going to get a team coming here who will make life difficult for us and who will try to work their way into the game.

"Having seen bits of them already, they're very, very good and us being complacent is the worst thing we can do.

"We've got to be on our mettle and we'll be working hard this week."