Joey, congratulations I thought that was a very good performance from your team…
Yeah, I thought the lads were excellent right across the board. If I have one criticism thought, it’s that we didn’t improve our goal difference and get ourselves at least at level par if not in the positives because we know what a good side Sutton are.
The lads have got them organised superbly. 10 days ago when we went down there, we were happy with a point but we did feel if we got them back on our park, on a bigger pitch, we’d dust them off and we were confident in doing that.
I thought the lads really came of age tonight with that performance, as I said the one critique I’ve got is that we didn’t get a third, fourth or fifth goal because we certainly had chances to do that based on how well the boys played.
That first-half in particular you score early and get settled and you’re playing some lovely stuff and there were a lot of good chances, is that something you’re going to have to work on over the coming weeks, that conversion rate?
For me if I’m honest I’m happy we’re getting a lot of chances, that’s the key. Eventually then, with the quality we’ve got, we will become a little bit more ruthless and efficient, but it takes time.
Ultimately that last little bit is down to confidence. You’ve probably seen Aaron’s most complete performance since he’s been at the football club. He was running the channels, dipping in and out, he was just a constant menace.
He was linking the play and stretching the opposition and obviously the quality of the finish, He’s really benefiting now having confidence flowing through his veins after a tough start. If you look at the team, we had two 19-year-olds in Elliot Anderson and Luca Hoole, full of confidence and belief.
Two 20-year-olds, Connor Taylor and James Connolly, full of confidence and belief. We’ve got some tough fixtures ahead, but if we were at Cheltenham or Ascot, if I was at the finish line and I was looking at the horses coming, I wouldn’t swap mine for anybody, maybe Forest Green, due to how many points they have.
But again, we’re coming along nicely. I said to the lads tonight that we were disappointed we didn’t win on Saturday but we’ve got 18 games to go, 54 points, if we’re going to push to the summit and reach the top of the mountain, tonight is a big night.
It was a chance to grab momentum off a team that’s 12 unbeaten. Tonight was a chance to close the gap on teams who weren’t playing that we’ve got games in hand on.
I felt we had to take maximum points from tonight. I demanded it from them and they rose to the challenge. As I say, the only disappointment for me is that we haven’t put another couple of dents in them to help our goal difference.
At 1-0 it’s always still in the balance and that start to the second-half from the penalty shout for Sutton that led to the goal being scored by Aaron, those are the moments that can change things…
The tackle was outside the box. So, you would hope the referee would know that but again at the moment you’re not sure what any of them are seeing. For me, that is the balance of football sometimes at this level.
Sutton have been behind multiple times in games and they’ve scored late. I’ve seen them a couple of times when they’ve been two goals down late and they’ve pulled themselves back into it.
So, make no bones about it, they’re a tough side, they’re a really good side as the league table attests. It wasn’t straightforward but I think we’ve been paid back for all the hard yards we’ve done in pre-season and the depth of talent we have in the building in terms of our recruitment.
They’ve made a couple of changes today because of the injuries and the load of games they’re taking on. We’re getting players coming back now so it sets us up nicely for the last quarter of the season.
The Gasheads are full of belief. Players are starting to get more confident. I told you all a couple of weeks ago, the Gas are coming.
If anybody didn’t know that before tonight. I think tonight the fans can certainly start to believe in this group of young people because they’ve risen to the challenge again.
As I say, we may run out of games. I wish the season started on January 1 not August 1, but again, in football your processes take time to bear fruit and the hard work that everybody is putting in, that the players are putting in on a daily basis is now starting to bear fruit for them.
We’ve just got to stay hungry and humble, keep turning up and performing and running hard for each other. If we do that, we’ll have many more good nights like tonight.
Joey, it hasn’t been ideal for you because you haven’t had that number nine. Aaron has played that position a lot, in a certain way has that turned out to be a good. He’s really made himself into a nine, he’s causing centre-backs problems. He’s competing in the air with them. He’s a threat in behind. He can drop short and bounce it. He’s become a more complete player as a result of having to play as a number nine….
Yeah, certain circumstances force you out of your comfort zone. When you get out of your comfort zone you can learn and really develop your game. For me, there’s been many times in the season where somebody has got to do a job for the team.
Their attitude and application in and around that can sometimes be the difference. It’s really pleasing to see Aaron now because he was really struggling for confidence. He looked like he’d lost belief in himself in the early part of the year.
As a coach, you can’t really help them, especially when you’ve got a passionate fanbase behind them because they expect excellence. They’re quite demanding and the players have got to rise to the challenge and meet it.
It’s not for everybody as the last couple of years will attest to. Not many can deal with the intensity of playing for a club this size at this level. But, I was always confident in Aaron. We pursued him over the summer.
We felt he could have given us that X-factor and we would have wanted to play him with a nine to compliment him because we didn’t feel he was best suited to that.
But as it is now, he’s playing at the level where we have to play him. He’s a constant menace and it must be frustrating him to see Forest Green. He’s left Forest Green to get out of the division and Forest Green have gone and had a fantastic season, no doubt that will be burning a hole in the back of his head.
Again, though, I think the key for players like him is the fans are taking to him. The fans were singing his name and that will do wonders for his confidence. Not only has he been playing superbly and been a constant threat for us, but to get the recognition of the support base, I think that will do wonders for his confidence.
As I say, credit to him he’s worked his backside off to get himself in that position and now it;s starting to bear fruit for him. Goals, assists, and all that will start to flow now I think for Aaron.
You probably don’t think about it in this way, but where does that rank in the best performances you’ve had this season because it was a real collective effort and you carved out chances? Also, there was a level of arrogance, in a good way. You’re creative players were playing with flair.
It’s a tough league, so you’re going to have days where conditions conspire against you and Saturday was hard in the conditions. In the past two games, we’ve played the two in-form teams in the Football League at the minute, unbeaten in 12 for Sutton and 12 wins out of 14 for Mansfield before they came here.
I think we’ve shown the level we’re at. I wouldn’t say either of those sides carry any fear for us. Mansfield and Sutton are really good sides and we respect them, but we also know how good we are and that was the frustrating bit of the early part of the season, getting the group together and getting pre-season and the hard yards in. It’s so key, and also turning around a losing culture, a culture that was devoid of confidence.
For me, confidence comes from good preparation and there is no shortcut for that. You’ve got to turn up and do the hard yards all the time. If you do, strangely, good stuff starts to happen and our lads have got that correlation now between the work they’ve done to get them here.
We know it’s on a solid foundation. Look at our last 20 games. Alright, we’re not table-topping, but we’re certainly not where we were in the opening gambit of the season and we’ve got so much more to come.
That was probably a five or six out of 10, if I’m honest. That was a lot better than I’ve seen, with a lot more control, a lot more belief, a lot more moving the ball quickly and isolating the wide players in attacking areas, giving them opportunities to get one vs one situations.
The only complaint I’ve got to stop it being a seven or an eight was that we didn’t get a third or fourth goal, which I felt we would have deserved if we won that game four or five-nil. Sutton couldn’t have had any complaints today.
What was your view on the late flag?
I knew it wasn’t offside in real time. I don’t know what that is, whether that’s the intuition of being a player.
I knew he wasn’t offside because, luckily, my brain processes a lot differently to a normal brain due to the speed of play. Your brain is able to take quicker photos than the layman because you’ve played in the Premier League, which is quite quick.
I knew straight away because I saw Aaron run off the back of their lad, off the backside of him, and I knew Aaron had touched the ball in.
If Aaron’s touched it, he can’t be offside because he’s come off the backside of him.
I said to the official ‘You’ve got to be absolutely certain’. They were asking each other who touched the ball and they said ‘I don’t know who touched the ball’, so if you don’t know who touched the ball, how do you know if he’s offside?
On Harry Anderson, how pleasing is it to see him perform like this after moving him out of that right wing-back position to a more natural position as a winger? He gives you something different because he looks to get in behind and you have a lot of players who like to come to the ball.
I was pleased for him because he’s played loads of games in the early part of the season. He’s done right wing-back, left wing-back.
He’s been moved around to do a job for the team everywhere and he was carrying a knock. He had a severe bruise on his heel and he was playing through it.
He’s a real warrior and we needed him. We were grinding at that point with all hands on deck and everyone available was scrapping away.
Harry suffered a bit because he was one of the few that hasn’t played in his natural position. He then came out of the team because we felt we could freshen him up a bit.
We dropped his body weight by about 7kg. If you look at him, he looks so much leaner, adn we felt his power to weight ratios would go up.
It was a really good oasis, a timeout for him in the middle of the season and I think he’s benefitting from that.
He’s been back in the side for the past couple of games and I think he plays really well on that left-hand side.
I thought Sammy Nicholson was excellent. It was Sammy’s best performance for 90 minutes tonight playing on the other side. He and Luca have a good relationship building.
The beauty of it is the versatility. Luke Thomas then comes on and is back in the fold again after getting his new teeth in there.
Have you seen his new teeth? He’s going to be fighting them off now, he looks like a right big hitter. I’m thinking GQ and I think that’s what he’s thinking as well.
But again, he’s a real threat and a real menace and we’re getting that competition.
Leon Clarke getting back on the pitch today and looking a big presence up there, Antony Evans to come back… really good signs for the group. We’re starting to build that strength and the battalions are starting to get stronger and stronger.
The lads are realising everyone’s going to have a role to play – Glenn Whelan getting back on there and taking a bit of the load and seeing the game out using his experience.
We’ve just got to keep fostering that. We’ve got to keep turning up and being hungry and humble and doing the hard yards.
If we are, the fans are with us. We were on the front foot again today and I think we’re better when we do that. You pointed that out that a lot of our good stuff starts from us being on the front foot.
We demanded that tonight and the lads have turned up and backed up a good second half performance against Mansfield on Saturday with a really good 90-minute performance and a deserved three points tonight.
Two points from nine going into this game, it felt like something of a must-win to get yourselves back in the conversation. Where are your belief levels now after a performance like that?
I’ve talked to you about those 10-game cycles. I spoke to the lads after the defeat at Oldham and I spoke to you, that’s how I judge it. You have to look at the games over four blocks of 10 and a six-game spurt if you’re in and around it. Hopefully a few more if you don’t quite get the automatics or win it.
After the Oldham defeat, we were four (wins), two (draws) and one (defeat). We’ve backed that up with a draw on Saturday to go four, three and one and now we’re five, three and one.
That is the success profile. We’ve got a game to go in that 10-game block at Stevenage on Saturday.
Winning regularly, drawing occasionally and losing rarely, you get promoted off that because it puts you in and around the two-points-per-game average, which is where you want to be to be challenging.
There’s loads to go in the season, but for the first time in my tenure here we’ve gone from being a losing side to being a grinding, difficult-to-beat side to now being a side capable of stringing a couple of back-to-backs and clean sheets together, which is needed if you’re going to be successful. It’s built on good defences.
The goal difference is coming back towards us a bit and I still feel the best is yet to come from this group.
We’ve got the championship rounds coming up in the last quarter of the season and we’re just getting stronger and stronger and stronger. We’ve got to keep working hard. It’s a tough league and we’ve given a few teams a head start.
We’ve got a tough game against Tisdale’s mob on Saturday. No doubt, he’ll be wanting to put one across us, certainly after what I said about them in the press.
But again, I called it as I saw it. There was no personal offence intended and I think you all know me now, I say it as I see it.
If people don’t like that, they’re welcome to have my phone number and give me a shout and meet me out for a coffee or a bite to eat. It’s not personal, it’s just how I see it.
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