Stockport boss Dave Challinor hailed four-goal Kyle Wootton after the Hatters eased to a 5-1 win at home to Worksop.
County led at the break after Jay Rollins cancelled out Wootton’s opener. But the County forward hit his second just before half time and two more as the Northern Premier League side tired, Odin Bailey piling on more misery with Stockport’s fifth goal seven minutes from time.
“It’s great for Kyle,” said Challinor. “It’s a great achievement for him and a memory that will stick with him for a long time.
“He’s got a souvenir that all the players will sign as a reminder of today. To score a hat-trick at any level is great, to do it in the FA Cup is brilliant.
“It was comfortable enough in the end but we were a bit sloppy in the first half, I wasn’t overly happy with how we went about it, and I can understand it from some lads who haven’t played that much so it was a bit disjointed.
“The second half was much better and once we got that freedom you can see the levels that there are between the teams. We were able to introduce players who have been playing regularly from the bench and once they tired and we brought fresh quality on it really shows the difference.”
The win stretched Stockport’s unbeaten run to 12 matches in all competitions and Challinor admitted he would happily take the easiest draw for round two with an eye on a possible glamour tie in the third round.
“The aim for us coming in round one is the third round,” he added. “We managed to do that last year and didn’t get the big draw that everyone wanted but we openly hope for the lowest-ranked team at home to give us the best chance of getting into that third round.”
Tigers boss Craig Parry admitted the gulf in divisions told in the end but was proud of his part-time players’ efforts.
“I do feel hard done by with the 5-1 scoreline,” he said. “But I think we’d given that much in the first hour we were out on our legs and obviously the full-time lads are fit and strong and when that calibre of player comes off the bench, 2-1 can quickly turn into 5-1, and that’s what happened today.
“Going into half time I’m sure their manager would have been giving them a few home truths, I think at 1-1 we were well in the game but unfortunately we conceded just before half time.
“But even coming up to the 60th minute I don’t think they’d caused us too many problems. The changes made a difference, as you could see in the game. They had better quality and lads who were a lot fitter. Unfortunately, that’s the difference in levels.
“When Jay Rollins’ goal went in I thought it might have been on for us.
“I thought we were really frustrating them, they were a bit agitated but our goal probably calmed them down.
“They got up a head of steam again, we conceded at the wrong time and the game got taken away from us. I’m very proud of our performance though.”
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