COUNTY boss Sammy McIlroy went into Tuesday night's LDV Vans Trophy clash against Bury in a much more positive frame of mind following last weekend's morale-boosting performance at Hull City.

Although it probably turned out to a bitter-sweet afternoon in Humberside thanks to the Hatters still slipping into bottom spot in Coca Cola League Two (due to Blackpool winning at Port Vale), McIlroy was delighted with his players' application and is now eager for more.

He said yesterday afternoon (Tues): "There were plenty of plusses for me to take from the performance at Hull.

"I was delighted and I'm hoping that we've now turned a corner.

"We were great defensively, in fact all over the park in every department we looked solid.

"I still think that there's nothing between a lot of the sides in our league, so hopefully getting a draw at Hull will give the lads some confidence back.

"It's all about confidence, it breeds results so I'm hopeful that we can build on that.

"I changed things around a bit on Saturday, and in particular Lee Mair had an excellent game at right-back.

"(Club skipper) Danny Griffin is also helping out Ashley Williams and Danny Adams now he's back in the team, and big Neil Cutler produced a great save towards the end."

The Hatters still face an uphill battle over the coming weeks and months after a poor start to the season, but there is sure to be renewed vigour as McIlroy's men welcome Swindon Town on Saturday.

"Again that's another tough one for us," added McIlroy, "But if we apply ourselves like we did at Hull then Swindon will find it difficult to beat us.

"We just need a bit more luck in front of goal. We could have won at Hull but their goalkeeper made three superb saves."

Andy Welsh, who returned to the starting XI and played exceptionally well at Hull, was due to sit out out last night's LDV game after tweaking a hamstring, while Luke Beckett was also set to miss out after picking up a knock.

Lee Mair (toe injury) was also doubtful for the game, but those three should be okay by the weekend.

Warren Feeney is also rated as doubtful for the Swindon game as he is still recovering from a rib injury sustained against Luton 11 days ago.

• STRIKER Chris Williams could be in County's squad for Saturday's game as his loan spell at Grimsby is up at the end of this week.

• LUKE Beckett's proposed meeting with Cheshire Sport executives to discuss a new contract is set to take place very shortly.

"We all need to get round a table with Luke," said Sammy McIlroy.

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