Boss Cowan 'in awe' of his Brackley players after another huge performance
Gavin Cowan says he is 'in awe' of his Brackley Town players after they produced another hugely impressive performance in the National League last weekend.
The Saints were unfortunate not to take all three points from their trip to Hartlepool United, eventually having to settle for a goalless draw despite their dominance.
And Cowan said: "I'm just in awe of the players, committing to what it is we want them to do.
"We often say to them in a healthy, arrogant way – if they do what we ask them to do, we often get success. If they don't, we get a failure.
"It's just really brilliant to see them committing to it and there's a common unity within the group.
"Even the players who weren't involved at the weekend were encouraging and they'll be in at some point.
"We're not losing sight of the fact we're Brackley Town, we're coming to clubs like Hartlepool and we can't get too disappointed we've come away with a draw.
"But as a group, we're being tough on ourselves and we've got lots of strong characters who are dragging the group through to make sure we get to where we need to be."
Cowan added: "I'm really proud of each of the lads.
"There was courage, bravery, attitude, aspiration - everything was there.
"We know what was missing, we know that's where we've got to be better because we can't seem to get it in the net at the moment, even from a yard out.
"Even when we do get it in, the officials want to take it away from us.
"I'm just really proud of the players and we know what speaks volumes about them is that there is disappointment when some people would give their right arm to go to Hartlepool and get a point.
"It was an excellent performance, we totally dominated the second half and in the first half we were the better side as well.
"It should have been three points but the performances will look after the results.
"Our big thing is to control performances, and the results will start coming.
"There's no room for complacency now, we've spoken to the players about making sure they don't get left behind because standards throughout the club are going through the roof.
"Whether it's the hierarchy at the club, the supporters or ourselves, we really want to push on in this league.
"We know it's not going to be easy but performances like this one are certainly going to help."
The next National League encounter for Brackley is a home game against Sutton United on Saturday (kick-off 12.30pm).