City of Liverpool manager Paul McNally has hailed his side after they secured a last-gasp winner to beat Ramsbottom United.
The Rams took the lead in the dying minutes before the Purps turned around their fortunes in stoppage time through James Steele and Adam Hughes.
They moved level on points with the teams above them and shed some daylight between themselves and their opponents who sit below them in the bottom four.
McNally claimed the win was ‘sweeter’ to be won under the circumstances it was, he told Off The Park: “I stated days earlier that we needed to win no matter what and that was it, get the job done.
“It wasn’t pretty although we did dominate for 90 per cent of the game and we got our just rewards until the last five minutes but it was sweeter to win it in those circumstances, and fully deserved I feel.
“It was so sweet to win it that late on, nevermind to equalise in the 90th minute to go win it in the 94th shows character.
“Character that has been questioned by myself, the club, by people around football, questioning whether them lads have got the character and I think they stepped up, they truly took it well on the Saturday. They stepped up and showed a big pair of b*******.”
The win saw them move level with Skelmersdale United and Colne but also to within a point of Glossop North End.
However, the City of Liverpool boss isn’t getting carried away with the triumph as he looks to piece together a positive run following a resilient win.
He added: “It was satisfying, it’s still only a step, it’s a minor step in the journey we need to go on but a step in the right direction.
“It’s been waiting for a couple of weeks to happen, we’ve been doing the same time of structure in every game, dominated in most games – even against the top teams – we’ve had a hard run and it hasn’t come.
“On Saturday, the fruits of our labour came to fruition and we’re happy to get the points we did, hopefully it’s the first step of moving forwards.”
A win on Saturday could see City of Liverpool move as high as 14th, overtaking opponents Hanley Town – who visit Vesty Road this weekend.
McNally picked up an important win over Hanley in the reverse fixture where they raced into a three-goal lead before the hosts clawed two goals back.
But he is aware of the quality, especially of the away form from Ryan Shotton’s side.
“It’s no easy feat against Hanley even though we’re at home, they’ve got one of the best away records in the league, it’s not going to be an easy game or a formality,” he continued.
“We’ll be approaching it confident, they’ll be confident and there’s no easy games. We’ll approach it how we do every other game and see where it takes us again.
“They’ll be coming here to take the points, we’ll be looking to make our ground a fortress now, getting us on the front foot and looking to pick up some points, get us moving back up the table – which, in theory, is only a couple wins away that’s how close this league is.
“It’s not just about this one game, it’s the course for the rest of the season, picking up as many points as we can to ensure we stay in the league then can we finish as high as possible and push on? That’s it.
“We’re only six points off 10th, on paper, and four away from being out of it, it’s that close. Every team will be saying that, they’re only three points away or a point away. It’s just about putting our stamp on it and moving up the table.
“We put a run of two or three games together when I first come in, we were hard to beat and drawing, losing in between. It probably didn’t give a true reflection of how we’re playing, we had some tough games, playing teams in the top half of the table, we picked up points.
“If we converted one or two into wins then you’re talking a different picture. I still think we’re moving in the right direction, we got the win, it’s just about converting points, some of the games we drew in, we could’ve won, you’re talking two or three points extra, we’re not doing too bad.
“It’s just about trying to build a bit of consistency and I do think we’re looking to build that, my record isn’t actually as bad if you go off my record in charge, it would be okay – we’d be mid-table.”
