Aldershot Town assistant manager Richard Dryden admitted to having mixed emotions after the Shots earned a thrilling 2-2 draw against Stockport County in the second round proper of the FA Cup on Sunday.

Josh Stokes’ double earned the Shots a replay, and Dryden admitted the game could have gone either way.

“I’ve had every emotion you can possibly have,” said Dryden.

“We’ve played some great stuff at times, but also left ourselves open a little bit and didn’t have a great start to the second half.

“There’s a lot of ups and downs and I think that’s where we’re going as a group. We’re disappointed not to have won the game, but if you sit back we could have won it or lost it.

“We end up drawing it and have another game to play.

“We started the game really well. Before we scored our goal we had one or two chances to score – but you can’t expect a side with the quality of Stockport to roll over and get their tummies tickled.

“They showed the quality they’ve got, so credit to them. The emotions are high and low.

“We kept the lead for three minutes – which was a tough one because if we could have held on for a bit you never know. But Stockport are a top quality unit.

“I think we had the better of the first half and they probably had more potential chances in the second half.

“We take the replay, but we would have liked to have won.”

Dryden was full of praise for two-goal hero Stokes.

“Josh will get the plaudits,” said Dryden. “If you look at the build-up to the second goal the ball from Lorent Tolaj was fantastic and when Josh gets in those areas he has been pretty good all season. It was nice to see it go in.

“I thought Josh was the best player on the park by a mile. He runs the game and constantly gets fouled. Stockport gave him massive credit and respect because they went out to man mark him. He’s a good player. We’ll keep his feet on the ground. We feel we’ve got a really good squad and he’s a big part of it.”

The Shots are well placed in the National League in sixth place, and Dryden feels the club are going in a positive direction.

“We’re a club building,” said Dryden. “Our squad is good. We’ve got a few injuries coming back which will definitely help us with the amount of games coming up.

“We’re going in the right direction. We’re doing well in the league and we’ve got a chance of going over to West Brom in the third round of the FA Cup.

“We’re really happy with our squad – there’s no one we worry about putting in the team. We’ve got total faith in our squad.”