Ahead of tomorrow’s Boreham-Wood blockbuster, we sat down with our gaffer.
He answered our questions on embracing away games, “making statements,” and more…
Here’s what he had to say on the following subjects…
On Tuesday’s result:
I’ve reviewed the game and the stats. I know the only stat that matters is the scoreline, but they certainly show we’re on the right path. They scored an unbelievable goal, but we created lots of chances and got into the right areas.
I wanted a reaction from Saturday and I certainly got that. We didn’t get the result, but we just have to keep working hard and keep producing these performances. If we keep doing that, we’ll start winning games. We’re frustrated, but we’re certainly not deterred.
On Fareed Salifu:
Fantastic for a young lad. Frustratingly, we didn’t utilise him as well as we could when he came on. We could have created more chaos around him, because, when we did, he nearly scored. It was great to get him minutes again. You can see what he brings to the team.
On Ben Greenwood’s injury:
We’ve had good news that his eye has been glued and there was no concussion. We’re hoping that he’ll be available this weekend.
On embracing playing away from home:
This is the beauty of the league. We get to play at the grounds of gigantic clubs like Boreham Wood. They’re a superb team. They nearly got promoted to League Two, before having an unfortunate and uncharacteristic season. It’s great for us to play a team like this, where we can challenge ourselves against a top-quality outfit. These are the tests you want, to see where you’re at.
On making statements this season:
We want to be making statements. The first couple of games didn’t go how we would have liked, but what better way to prove our quality by going toe-to-toe with some of the best players in the league. With total respect to Boreham Wood, they’re not a team we fear. We want to impact the game.
On making us the team that other sides fear:
We’re not going out to avoid losing; we’re going out to try and win. That’s the mentality we want.
On using congested games to our advantage:
We have the opportunity to pick up points in a small time frame against some top teams. I always try to turn a negative into a positive. Between Saturday and Monday, we play two full-time teams with little rest, both of which have more time to train and recover. What a challenge this will be, but if we come through this period with some points we’ll be ready for anything!
On how to keep the players confident and focused:
It’s about stretching and supporting them after the game. There are still positives around. I can see small areas of growth within the disappointment and frustration, so I remind the players that this is all part of the journey. I want them to remain focused, keep believing, and know that they need to go through these times if they want to achieve anything worthwhile. These are the makings of a team.
It’s up to me and the staff to keep supporting them and reminding them of how good they can be.
On not losing sight of what we’ve done well over the past few weeks:
Football is no different to life. There’s good times and tough times. The tough times feel terrible, but, if you keep working hard and believing, you come out of the other end stronger. We’re painfully aware there’s things we need to work on, but we’re not getting ourselves down after a couple of games.
