Well done Nigel, three thrilling goals and a terrific win…
Yeah, it was a good win for us, a really good win. Under the circumstances as well. It was satisfying for us today.
You had to make two changes pretty early, what were they?
Two injuries. Rob’s [Atkinson] got a problem with his back and Kingy, [Andy King] hamstring.
So you had to reorganise a bit with Jay [Dasilva] coming on and Alex Scott moving…
Yeah but that’s what I expect players to do, be able to deal with it. But I thought we dealt with it very well.
Your front three were sensational today, the second half in particular, Antoine [Semenyo] just seems to get better and better, that goal last week must have given him a big boost…
I think what was interesting for us was in-game where we had to fight to get into it, they [Cardiff] started the game pretty well, we always looked pretty dangerous and I think the players knew that chances would come at some point.
It’s good to have pace in the side and we’ve got plenty of that. All of the front three are no slouches and when you’ve got someone like Callum [O’Dowda] in wide positions with pace too, it means we’ve got some options.
Are you seeing improvements from Antoine on the training ground too?
Yeah, he’s learnt a lot in the last 12 months, I think he’s come quite a long way. He must be very difficult to play against.
Well, he’s up against big lads and big defenders, he’s got a good physique…
Yeah, he’s got pace and power and he uses it well.
Chris Martin’s goals made the difference with two great finishes…
Yeah, well Chris comes in for some criticism but he’s a team player. He’s good at both ends of the pitch, he’s a very reliable defender for us but he deserved those goals today because he’s worked exceptionally hard for the team today. He’s done very, very well.
The crowd helped you get over the line again, you’ve had some poor days here but that was pretty special…
We’ve had disappointing days, I don’t know if they’re poor days. We’ve had some disappointing days when the result hasn’t gone our way, but today our work rate and our quality came through.
We’re making progress and it was good to get a home win in a local derby as well because our fans go home happy. I think they can see that their team is working very, very hard and has a lot of commitment and I can’t really ask for a lot more than that other than maybe to see a bit more assurance.
We’ve won the game and that’s the most important thing today.
Plenty of positives to take from the game, but what impressed you most?
That we won. That we showed resilience when dealing with setbacks and injuries, going a goal behind. Han-Noah [Massengo] made a bad mistake for the first goal but he didn’t let it affect his game, I thought he played very well. Don’t underestimate how hard that is for a young player or any player in a local derby. He dealt with that in a very mature way.
Scott and Massengo in the middle were very good, does that show that they’re improving with game on game with experience?
It shows that they are able to deal with Championship football and so it doesn’t matter what their age is. They have enough about them to understand how to deal with what is quite a pressured situation in a local derby at home, the expectation being on them and everybody else within the team to perform well in front of their own fans.
To win the game is great, it would be good to see the game out with more aplomb but we didn’t. We still created a really good chance after conceding the second goal. We looked dangerous today.
With Semenyo, that’s six 90 minutes in the last six weeks, are we starting to see the best of him or is there still more to come?
I think at his age there’ll be further development but he’s very difficult to play against, no doubt about that. I’m pleased with how he’s doing and I’m pleased we’ve got different options in forward positions. It’s nice to have pace.
King looked very frustrated when he came off, is that going to be a long term thing?
We don’t know, it’s too early to tell.
There were reports this morning that Timm Klose is training with you, is that true?
Yeah, it is but I won’t comment on anything else.
Aden Flint is going to have nightmares about Semenyo aren’t they?
I don’t know about that. All our front players caused their back players problems today, it was a good attacking performance from us.
Local derbies aren’t always exciting in terms of a game of football but I thought today we showed quite a bit of quality as well as grit.
I thought we deserved to win today.
I don’t know if you noticed but the referee was very picky on the touchline with throw-ins and players stealing yards. He actually took one away from one of your players and reversed it, do you think that’s something we should see more of?
Do you think I’m going to comment on referees after a few weeks back? I can’t be bothered. Ask the question to them.
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