CONOR Hourihane said his side were 'outstanding' but admitted he was disappointed with the 1-1 draw away at Stockport.

It looked like the impressive Reds were going to make it three wins on the spin after Vimal Yoganathan gave them the lead midway through the first half.

But they were cruelly pegged back with a minute to go when former Barnsley player Callum Connolly volleyed home.

Hourihane said: "It’s disappointing with the late goal, but the lads were outstanding.

"It’s a difficult one.

"If someone had said to me before the game that we'd go to Stockport and get a point, but under the circumstances with how the game panned out it’s frustrating.

"There are two big things from my side which stand out - we are really disappointed with a point at Stockport.

"You can see how far we’ve come and we’re moving in the right direction.

"The second thing is in the first half is can we get that second.

"We had really good moments in the first half.

"I thought the front boys were outstanding.

"We knew we would suffer in the second half in terms of their momentum.

"It's a lot easier to suffer at two up rather than one."

Mael de Gevigney replaced Josh Earl at left-back and Hourihane confirmed Earl will be out of the squad for the next week.

He said: "Josh Earl has been struggling for the past three or four weeks with his back.

"He obviously played 60 minutes against Luton and it just flared up again.

"We're going to take Josh out of the equation for the next week or so and hopefully by Lincoln he'll be ready to go for the busy period."

Reyes Cleary was taken off midway through the second half.

Hourihane said: "Reyes was struggling with cramp.

"He's had a big load and big rise in performances over the last seven or eight games so he needed to come off and look after his body."