'We love him to bits' - Cowan salutes Brackley striker Hall

Hall once again popped up to deliver a winning goal for the Saints as they secured a 1-0 home success against Southport on Saturday.

The victory means Brackley are third in Vanarama National League North, four points off the top with a game in hand on leaders Chester FC.

And Cowan was full of praise for Hall, who played through illness to provide Brackley with another crucial three points last weekend.

"Not everyone can do that, not everyone knows where to be," said Cowan, reflecting on Hall's 19th-minute match-winning header from a Tommy O'Sullivan corner.

"Credit to him because he's always in the right place at the right time.

"I always say he's a little bit of a freak of nature because he has this air about him and this appearance but he's very sharp, he's very quick, he's very wily and he's massive for us.

"We love him to bits.

"He keeps doing the business and he knows he's going to have to keep doing that until the end of the season with no complacency."

Cowan admitted Brackley weren't at their best at Southport but praised his players for coming through a tricky test.

"All year, it's about the results," the Saints boss said.

"We're not overly happy with our performance - we were maybe a bit one-paced, lacked a bit of energy - but there was a 25-minute period where we were pretty electric and managed to get 1-0 ahead.

"It was a funny atmosphere in terms of the weather, the pitch and all of these things, but ultimately we got the win.

"I said to the players that we know we've got to be better in terms of our performance, but no doubt we will be.

"Credit to the lads because we had a bit of illness in the camp but we managed to overcome it."

Next up for Brackley is another key home match, against 23rd-placed Rushall Olympic on Tuesday night (kick-off 7.45pm).

"They come thick and fast - it's another tough game," Cowan said.

"There's no games where you think you can put a couple of lads out there to get some minutes.

"It's a relentless league, another good team who are capable of picking up points and have been hanging in there, doing really well.

"Ultimately it's all about us and if we control the controllables and stick to our process, invariably the result is ours.

"Energy levels will fly up on Tuesday and we'll have a good look at Rushall so there's no complacency on our side.

"We'll make sure we approach it in the right way and we're going to have to be at our best."