'They were absolutely incredible' - Cowan praises his Brackley Town players

The Saints were just lacking the finishing touch as they were held to a goalless draw at home in the Vanarama National League North clash.

The game came just three days after Brackley had battled to beat Braintree Town in a penalty shootout in the first round proper of the FA Cup.

That set up a trip to Sky Bet League One side Stockport County in the second round on the weekend of November 30.

But Brackley's full focus is currently on league matters, and they were agonisingly close to claiming three points against Warrington in midweek.

"I can't ask any more of the players - I thought they were absolutely incredible," Cowan said.

"I suppose the thing I can ask is for them to stick the ball in the net because we had chance after chance, penalty area entry after penalty area entry. Total domination.

"We played a team who, with the greatest respect, didn't come to win the game. They had a defeat at the weekend and came to stop us.

"We just couldn't find that touch. We had chances cleared off the line and there was a farcical decision not to award a penalty. You need the referee to be competent enough to give the decision.

"To have a performance like that after extra-time on Saturday, I can't fault the lads because their application was incredible and we just couldn't convert it.

"It's going to leave a bit of a sour taste in the mouth and some frustration but there were big positives in terms of the performance.

"The professionalism the players have shown is fantastic. We had a really good meeting on Zoom the evening before the game and spoke about having no excuses after Saturday.

"If we nick one of those many chances it's a completely different feeling and I feel like we deserved it (the win) 10 times over.

"You wouldn't change anything other than that final bit and if you perform like that you win most games.

"All the things we work on in training we were doing, we just couldn't get it over the line."

With games coming thick and fast, Cowan has added to his squad this week, bringing in Solihull Moors midfielder Kian Ryley on a one-month loan deal.

Forward Jez Abbey, who came through the ranks at Wolves, has also signed on with the Saints following a successful trial period.

And ahead of Saturday's home league clash with Darlington, Cowan said: "We're really pleased to have Kian on board and he's a good, robust player who is highly thought of at Solihull so we're really thankful to them for letting him out.

"We're just trying to manage the lads and we haven't got Riccardo (Calder) and Gaz (Dean) and we're still waiting to hear from Scotty Pollock (on his injury).

"We haven't got a massive squad so the lads know they've got a responsibility to look after their recovery.

"The lads are doing everything they can and full credit to them because they are part-time lads who work like they're full-time.

"The performance, the energy, the high-speed running, the distances, they're doing it all."