What an entertaining game Monday was. You said it would be end-to-end and it was exactly that. What are your thoughts?
It really was an end-to-end game. I don’t think we played particularly well in the first half, but look at the way the boys fought back in the second half, so there’s a lot of positives to take. But, there’s still things to be worked on.
We created a lot of chances through our crossing on Monday. How important is it for the lads to be dangerous on the wings?
That’s something we speak about every week. You can’t score if you don’t put crosses into the box. To win games, you’ve got to put the ball into the box and get it in the goal. That’s what was a bit frustrating about the first half, the fact that we didn’t create those types of chances. But, in the second half we were on the counter a lot. Teddy and Leo were putting in some excellent crosses. I was able to spot that we needed to change our shape, which I’m really pleased about.
Charlie had to come off, but it’s already been said that he was up and talking after the game. How has he been getting on since Monday?
So, it wasn’t a concussion. It was a problem with his neck, which we’ve had diagnosed. We’re hoping he’s available to play this week, but we’ll obviously take precautions. He’s a warrior.
Five points from three games. This comes after our tough December run. Is this the sign of a Bobby Wilkinson team finding that consistency during the second half of the season?
If you told me before those games that we would take five points from nine I would have been happy with that. Having said that, with the quality of our players, I would have liked to have had a few more points. But, it’s important that we didn’t lose those games, so we have to make sure we stay positive.
We’re back to normality with a Saturday afternoon fixture. We have a good track record of picking up points with these games – what message do you hope that sends to our opponents?
Well, we’re going to a difficult place to face a team who plays well at home. But, we’re confident when we play away from home. We enjoy those games because we’ve picked up some good points away from home this season. It’s a challenge we look forward to, but we know we’re heading to a tough place.
Our last game away at Tonbridge ended in a huge win for us. We now have a new squad in good goalscoring form – would you take half the result we had up there last season!?
I’ll take any result. I try not to look at least season at all, mainly because it’s two different teams. We now have new boys who look very hungry to bang in goals, and it’s goals that win games, so that’s important. We will go into the game with that mindset.
As always, what has been the key message going into Saturday’s game?
The key message is what you mentioned earlier. Consistency. We got three points from our last away game. The trick is whether we can now get points in this upcoming away game and string together some fantastic away performances. This league is so tight that, whatever you do, you’ve got to keep picking up points.
Interview by
Jack Webb