Joey, that was a very entertaining game, you must be delighted with the result. How would you assess your team’s performance?
Really pleased to win any game off the back of a disappointing result (at Newport) at the weekend.
We knew coming here, Crawley are a competitive side. John (Yems) has always had them right in every fixture and we knew from the home game that it would be a tough encounter.
We’re delighted to get out of here with three points. We probably could have made it a bit easier for ourselves, but credit to Crawley, they kept testing us and kept probing and pushing us right to the end.
They had their chances, didn’t they Crawley and I guess once again James Belshaw, he is having a fantastic season and he made some brilliant saves again this evening...
If you’re going to be successful you need everybody in your team to step up when required. Certainly, in the second half of the season, we’ve had match-winners all over the park.
Harry Anderson and Aaron Collins will get the plaudits for their goals, but there were a lot of good moments from our defenders and when the defence is penetrated.
My opinion is we’ve got the best goalkeeper in the league in James Belshaw and he came through for us again.
We’re disappointed to concede a goal from a corner, but there were circumstances with one of our key defenders (Nick Anderton) off the pitch getting treatment.
We had to hang on and do things properly. We probably should have put the game beyond them with a couple of the chances we had, but I’m not going to complain (about) three points and an away victory that gets us looking back up the table.
When the final whistle sounded you could tell the toll it had taken on your players, these Saturday-Tuesday games. How tough is it to keep going as the season draws to a close?
It’s not been straight-forward, but this week I read Jurgen Klopp’s programme notes from Liverpool’s game against West Ham.
I spoke about some of the things in there that their taking about. Having Champions League games then a cup final and that if you draw a game at their level, it’s a bad result.
So, that’s the expectation as the stakes get higher. The pressure gets higher. I think that it brings out the best in players.
I thought there was some really good footballing moments from us today. On-par with some of the stuff we played in the first period against Leyton Orient. Some really good football and all we were lacking was some end product.
I felt that if we kept it at 2-0 a little bit longer they would have gambled and chased the game how they did late in the game when they banged Joel Lynch up front.
We probably could have made it a bit easier for ourselves, but again any away victory and especially at Crawley, as I say John’s got a good team here and it’s not an easy place to come but we get out of here with three points and onto a couple of home games.
Just on where you are. I’m sure Rovers fans are getting quite excited. This momentum that you seem to have, put Saturday’s defeat to bed. You’re right in amongst in terms of those play-off places.
We’re in the mix, but we’ve got a lot of work to do. (We’ve got) another Saturday-Tuesday coming up next week. The schedule changes a bit then and some other teams pick up a Saturday-Tuesday schedule.
There’s going to be twists and turns. We’re delighted to pick up three points. 11 cup finals to go and the most important is Harrogate at the weekend and then Colchester.
We’ve just got to turn up and be at our best on Saturday in front of our fans.
Sam Nicholson and Jon Nolan weren’t involved. What’s the story there?
Jon has just jammed his calf, so he’ll just need a little bit of time on that. Sam Nicholson had a fracture (in his leg) in the early part of the season.
We had it scanned and he’s not further aggravated that. Hopefully he’ll be back in contention for the weekend. Nolan hopefully next weekend, but it’s just patching a few up and getting a few bodies through it.
Nick is playing through 15 different ailments. He tends to be in the wars every single game. We’re reliant upon the group to keep driving, turning up and working hard for each other.
I thought our commitment and energy levels tonight were superb.
Obviously, momentum is important, after Saturday which wasn’t necessarily a must-win, but did you feel tonight was a must-win to regain that momentum?
I didn’t. I knew it would be a really tricky fixture. The key for us was to give a good account of ourselves and put in a good performance.
There was certainly a bit of disappointment with Saturday’s game, because we’ve been on a good run and we want to win and then we’ve got that winning feeling.
But also, we didn’t play anywhere near our best and if you don’t then you don’t deserve to take maximum points. Second half in that game we kept huffing and puffing and we didn’t manage to break them down.
But I felt right across the board, certainly in the front side of the team, I thought we were a lot better.
I thought Aaron Collins was superb, (he) deserved his goal. But I thought his performance from the front for me was his best 90 minutes of the season.
He nearly scored goal of the season when he went through, but there was some good defending. But I thought he terrorised Tony Craig who’s a great player and our good player for this club.
He’s a wily old fox and I thought Aaron’s movement tonight was superb. He gave us that link from front to back.
We’ve got, as I say, 11 tough games coming up, but again there’s a real feel-good factor. Our lads are disappointed in there that we’ve made that game harder for ourselves than what we needed to. Such is the level they’ve set for themselves.
For me, you’re always trying to guard against complacency and I don’t think that’s in our group. They turn up for each other and run hard for each other. They put their bodies on the line when needed and quality finishes when needed as well.
I want to pick out the two lads on the right-hand side. Obviously, Luca played a brilliant role in the second goal and I thought Harry Anderson was outstanding all night. Harry in particular there was a period where his form probably wasn’t his best, you then gave him that chance in a more attacking position and he’s completely rewarded you. He’s been excellent over the past couple of months..
I laugh with him and call him James Milner. He likes Milner as well, but that’s who he reminds me of. He’s played left back for us, left-wing back for us. He’s played centre-mid and again I think his natural position (right midfield) is where he played tonight.
Whenever we move him onto the frontline in one of those three spots, he’s produced goals. He’s been a superb signing. He never causes you a moment’s bother. He does everything right.
He’s got himself in fantastic physical shape, probably the best shape of his career and he’s getting the rewards on the pitch. He is in many ways the epitome of what we’re looking for in our team and our squad.
As you rightly point out if I ask him to play in any other position he doesn’t sulk and moan he just gets on with it and plays that position to the best of his abilities.
He will obviously want to play in that position where he’s played tonight because that probably is his natural position or at least where he’s played most.
I think he’s done well when he’s flipped over to the left hand side. So, competition for places. Sammy Nich out tonight is a blow, but Harry has took the jersey on and obviously got a goal and as you rightly pointed out, him and Hooley superb down that right-hand flank.
The ball Luca puts in for Elliot Anderson. Elliot did everything right, he heads it down but it doesn’t manage to find the net. But it’s some ball in from Luca.
Watching him develop has been really pleasing. You forget he’s 19 years of age, but he’s really come on this season and I’m really pleased with his development. He’s a super kid.
I know you’ll tell me that you take it game-by-game but by winning tonight you have given yourself a wonderful chance over the next two games at home to really make a dent into the sides above you who are a few points ahead...
Yeah, but again I don’t mean to bore you with it and be cliché, but we can’t lose sight of just that next game. It’s worked really well for us and we can only focus on that.
We’ve got a cup final at our place on Saturday. I hope the fans turn up like they have been. I’d imagine it (the attendance) will be north of 8,000/9,000 again and they’ll be with the lads.
It’s a tricky game Harrogate. We know from the game up there that it’ll be a physical encounter. They’ve got lots of live threats, but I do think that was the game where we really flipped a corner.
I remember Nick Anderton getting a crafty little finish round the back. The lads were calling him 'Shiniesta' of the back of that. Nick got that goal after coming on as a sub in that game.
I thought Connor Taylor really came of age in that game. He was superb at the time. There two front lads, Armstrong and Muldoon who were riding high and scoring goals. Harrogate we’re on a great run of form as well and we managed to give a commanding performance that afternoon.
We dug one out and defended properly and that was the real springboard that we’ve rode this wave off since. But as I say, we’re in the race now and we’ve just got to keep turning up and working hard and giving every game the respect it deserves and Saturday’s game against Harrogate, for us as I say, has got that cup final kind of feel.
We want every game to be high stakes and at this stage of the season you’re entering the final push and there’s a lot on the line and I always believe it brings out the best in good players.
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