|
" On paper it is the biggest task of the season, they are the best team in the league because they are first in position and they have obviously been playing the best football and most consistent football throughout the year. So we are under no illusions of how tough it is going to be tomorrow but I have just got a sneaky suspicion that it might be a game that we can enjoy.
" I think that we have done really well against the big sides, we have played some decent football against all the top teams and have been unlucky not to win more games than we have. We have taken points off MK Dons and off Leeds United and off Peterborough, we forced Leicester all the way, we were 1-0 up at half-time and maybe unlucky not to get a result out of that one as well.
" So the boys can go into the game with no fear really, it is an important game for both sides but they have got to go into the game and chuck everything that they have got at it and work their socks off and hopefully get something out of it.
" I haven't set a points target, what we are trying to do is just win as many games as we can as quickly as we can. Maybe in three games time we might be saying that we need to win that one or draw that one or win all three, I don't know, you never know how it is going to pan out.
" You never know how other teams are going to do, there are a lot of teams involved in the fight at the moment. So at the minute it is just gather up as many points as we can, starting tomorrow, and then pushing on over the Easter weekend, which will be really big for us with the games on Friday and then on Monday. "
" I probably am feeling the pressure, whether I show it or not is different. I am just keen for the players to keep performing like I know they can. We haven't done it consistent enough this season, it doesn't dent my confidence too much but I keep trying and doing my best to try to give the right information and do the right things with the team, sometimes it has worked, sometimes it hasn't.
" As for pressure though, I think that if I start feeling pressure then I think that everybody else around me starts feeling it. So it is keeping a calm head but making sure that the importance of the situation is pressed home to the players and that they respond to every situation.
" When you look at it, you are at the helm of a fantastic job at a terrific football club and one that was genuinely in the last few years going in the right direction. It certainly was the first time I was here around with it and I don't think that we are a million miles off doing that again. You look at our performances and you take a handful out of it this season and we have performed in most games.
" What we haven't done is take chances, chances have been unbelievable the ones that we have missed. You look at the Hereford game and people have criticised it as being a really poor performance. That could have been 5-2 or 6-2 and you just wonder what I have done wrong to deserve the luck that I am getting as a manager when we miss chances as easy as that.
" They are the important things in the game, the margins for error are so small, and then at the other end we gave really sloppy goals away, and we have done too often this season. So is that ultimately the manager is not as good at his job or he is good at his job. I think that the divide between success and failure is that small and we are just searching for maybe a little bit better luck in front of goal and being a little bit tighter in terms of conceding goals. "
" At the end of this season when we survive, and we will survive, I am pretty sure of that, I am really, really confident that the boys can pull together these performances we need. We have to then look at that and break down the season and say that we have finished two places above the relegation zone and that it has not been good enough. Why has it not been good enough? And you have to look at reasons then and break that down and make sure that you implement the changes that have to be made.
" There will be changes made because the club hasn't been as successful or anywhere near as consistent as it should have been this season. I know the reasons in my own mind what I think are the main reasons behind that, and those reasons will come out. It is not the right time to talk about why we haven't done this or why we haven't done that. There are a varying amount of aspects of why it has happened and what we can't do is offer excuses at the minute.
" We are in a position where we are needing to win games to retain our position in League One and then we can break it down and say that was wrong, that was wrong, that was wrong, this was right, that was right. There have been too many things that haven't been quite right though and we need to address them, that is an absolute certainty and that is something that I can assure everybody that will happen.
" As I have said all along, trialists are for the future. There is a lad from Wigan (Craig Mahon), that has been at a Premier League club and there is a lad from Tottenham, Cian Hughton, who is Chris Hughton's son, Chris is obviously at Newcastle.
" They are young players for later on down the road, they have done very well in our reserves and they will be something that we will be looking at later on again in the season to get some more games to see if they can figure maybe next season. They are not going to be in time to help us at the moment though. "
" I just think that it is an absolute necessity that we look at as many players as we can in other games, in other reserve team games, in other League One and League Two games and Championship games. Also then we get as many players as we can in to have a look at first hand and put in the reserves as we know that we need to change one or two things round.
" These are players that are available, these are players that we think are better than what we have got. We have done a load of scouting, there are a lot of names on the radar. It is no secret that I think that we do need to change things round in terms of personnel.
" We are not looking brilliant are we team-wise because we keep getting injuries to our centre-halves and our defenders, but we are pretty strong in the top end of the field, and that takes care of itself. I think that Peter Murphy is going to be fit though so he will come back in the team.
" We have lost obviously Ian (Harte) with a broken hand, we have lost Chris Howarth, who hasn't been featuring to be fair, with a broken leg. So it is all at the wrong end of the field that we are getting injuries but we have got bodies and we have got fit bodies, and we have got a determination so hopefully that will give us a right chance tomorrow.
" Generally on the road we have given the supporters plenty to cheer about. Apparently our away form would see us in the top half of the table if you compare it to everybody else's. So let's hope that we can produce one more really good performance for them.
" They have been terrific, I felt sorry for them at Southend because we conceded too cheaply, but overall they have had a lot to cheer about on their travels. Let's just hope and pray that they have got something to cheer about, stand up and clap us off the pitch again tomorrow, but they have been absolutely first class. "