|
" It was a strong performance, we worked hard, we got some good weather yesterday, went on the training ground. We put a gameplan together, tried to work hard at it on the training pitch, not worrying about losing legs for the game. We needed some energy though, we needed to pass, we needed to play and they have responded greatly tonight
" You've seen how they have responded, they passed the ball with some confidence as well. We've tried hard to get the ball down, we've got two wide players that can cause damage and if we had just put it in there against (Robert) Page and (Michael) Collins and (Nathan) Clarke then we would lose out a lot of the time. Although I have to say that (Joe) Garner and (Danny) Graham battled extremely well when they had to.
" We tried to get our football on the floor and we did that with some real confidence and some good football tonight. The first goal was a training ground move, we ask people to do things, when they work it is nice but we've asked that to happen. I don't want to tell too many people but we have worked at it.
" We said at half-time that we'd done all the football, we played very well in the first period but there were a couple of scares from Huddersfield Town when they had their spell. You can't dominate games at this level for the full 90 minutes or even full 45s. They have shown us that they have got a threat, Andy Booth is always a threat in the air and it took Keiren Westwood a terrific last-ditch save and then some nifty footwork to keep us at 1-0.
" We'd had a big threat and we had to be on our toes to lift the game up in the second period. To be fair Huddersfield started well and we stuck with the game at that time. It's a super result, the second goal was a good one because you are just looking and wondering, or I am, about if we need a change here. Do I need to bolster it up, do I need some fresh legs somewhere and the second goal just helps you out on that, and obviously we needed it because Huddersfield found a goal themselves.
" When we have our disappointments, which we'll probably still have one or two more as the season unfolds again. It's really important that myself, the coaching staff and the players stay on an even keel, that we don't dig big holes for ourselves. When we have won tonight and played well then I don't go swinging from the stands and stuff like that, it's just working hard at what we are trying to do. "
" There were some good things in that performance tonight, there were one or two good things at Port Vale but they get overlooked because people are unhappy with the result. So we try to take them in to other games and try to keep working at things that we know we are good at. Tonight it has come off and it's in our favour, it's a good result and we'll enjoy it until the next one.
" We wondered whether or not we should have played him (Cleveland Taylor) actually at Preston last week, we didn't and I wondered if I had got that right. He's stayed 90 minutes today though so probably we did get it right and he's looked a big threat. He's an exciting player, he probably drifts along sometimes and we have to keep nudging him and reminding him but that might be the interest of the player. He's slightly different to (Joe) Anyinsah but he's certainly got that threat and he's going to get better.
" They (Simon Hackney and Taylor) are threatening players, we talked about the ball into the front players, whether it be wide or into Joe (Garner) and Danny (Graham) and it had to improve on the quality. Saturday was a hard one for us firing balls in and even in the Walsall game we weren't that good at it.
" So tonight was pleasing because we've got good front play and we kept the ball at the top end of the pitch well. When we can do that and you get ball in comfortable positions for Cleveland and Simon then they are a big threat. Tonight they had a lot of possession, a lot of attacks and a lot of forward play from themselves so that indicates to me that the team has played pretty well.
" Bridgey (Marc Bridge-Wilkinson) wants to go running and racing sometimes and we just said to him that perhaps tonight if we get enough of the ball then you've got to be supply and stay, supply and stay. That's what he and Chris Lumsdon have done, they've supported and played well, Bridgey still wants to go racing on us now and again but we're holding him back a little bit. Once we've got a good ball in there, we can't always get forward when the ball is at our front people so we need support from those guys and they have done well.
" He (Scott Dobie) has got a tight hamstring, nothing too serious, how quickly we get him back I can't answer at the moment but we will get him back pretty shortly, it's not going to be too long I don't think.
" I'm always pleased when other people are pleased with the result, it's strange, we've been in the top three or four since October, since I came into the club, and we are still fighting it. Tonight though was a really top performance and we've got to work hard to try to repeat that. It's not easy, it's pretty difficult at times to keep that level of performance high but if we keep working at it and the supporters stay with us then we'll see if we can have a successful season. "