Boss Craig Parry delighted by application as Worksop Town do the double over Stockton Town

Steven McDonnell broke the Tigers’ 460-minutes-without-a-goal duck early on with a header before Dale Mulligan equalised in the second period. However, Worksop won it late through Liam Hardy, whose spot-kick resulted in the dismissal of Callum Roberts.

And Parry was pleased to complete a double over the promotion-chasing Anchors.

“I thought it was a good performance all round against a very good side,” said Parry.

“We have played well many times at home, but I think Saturday was one of our best performances this year and the lads deserved a big pat on the back really because of the things we asked them to do over the past week in training; they put it into practice and did it well.

“It was a relief once Macca [Steven McDonnell] put the ball in and it was a good team move, especially with Aleks [Starcenko] and Luke [Hall] interlinking and exchanging positions that provided Macca with a good cross to stick his head on it.

“They were a tricky side, and they get the ball wide and get at teams and for us to come against them and collect six points is a credit to us.

“As I have said before, we haven’t got into the playoffs because of our performances against the top five, it has been the other performances that have let us down and that’s the reason we haven’t.

“We have picked up points against people in there and it is pleasing for the boys to get the six points against Stockton because I think they are a big shout for going up in the playoffs and I don’t think many teams will want to play them.”

The Tigers mirrored Stockton’s 4-4-2 formation which helped them take the game to their opponents and counterattack when the Anchors pressed forward.

Iyrwah Gooden began on the right of the midfield four to make his first start since the 6-2 victory over Lincoln United; Parry was delighted with what he saw from the winger.

“I thought Iyrwah did well; we left him on for 65 minutes,” he added.

“The most pleasing thing with Iyrwah was how hard he worked, and the lads gave him a pat on the back in terms of his work rate in a defensive sense and not just his forward play.

“We know that he has bags of ability and has unbelievable pace; he just needs to believe in himself a little bit more and I think yesterday was the beginning of something in that he did the right things and worked hard and credit to him.”