Cook: No problem with fixtures if it means FA Cup dream is still on

Both Latics and Fylde will be in tonight’s third-round draw - along with the big boys from the Premier League - after Friday’s 1-1 draw.

They’ll replay next week for the right to make it through to the next round and, while not ideal, Cook says he’s not too downhearted.

“We don’t mind the extra game, with the replay,” the Latics boss admitted.

“These sort of ties are what the game is all about.

“I’m sure the Fylde lads will have slept well on Friday night because they covered enough ground to take it to a replay.

“All that matters is we’re in the draw for the third round of the FA Cup, and let’s see who we - or Fylde - get.”

Latics were unable to build on Will Grigg’s header just before the halfway mark, and paid the penalty when Danny Rowe equalised from the spot with 20 minutes to go.

But Cook believes the goal will do the Northern Ireland international the world of good.

“I’m so pleased for Will,” Cook acknowledged. “The only downside is it wasn’t the platform for us to go on and win the game.

“Could we have done any more to win the game? No.

“I thought, in the first half especially, we moved the ball very well.

“In the second half, possibly we weren’t as clinical as we could have been.

“You need to open up teams like that, and make them cover the spaces and chase the ball.

“But you can analyse games as much as you want.

“We’ve avoided a banana skin, and that’s what we were all thinking about late on!”