|
" In a strange way I'm probably happier tonight because we have been given a sterner test. Certainly Chester really played well, they played some good football and after we got our first goal we didn't get the ball back for long periods. Certainly they deserved their equaliser at that stage and maybe could have even been in front with a good chance that they missed.
" We stuck at it, I have just said to them - on days when you are not quite at it as much as you'd like then it's important that you dig out a win. Sometimes you get your pleasure out of the result but we've put four goals away so I can't be disappointed with what I've seen out there. We know we can play better, and I know that because I've seen them play better. We found four chances to score goals and one or two extra after that so I'm pretty pleased with the evening I have to say.
" There were a few stood behind me saying that it wasn't that easy, they were having a little pop at the team, which is fair enough. We all want to be right and we all want to be crisp and clean and we weren't quite that way tonight, not all the time. When we did find that clean crisp football though we created and we looked decent. So it was a sort of mixed performance if you like.
" It was sometimes a bit sloppy, sometimes it was crisp, I keep saying - four goals, I can't grumble about it. I've had to say to them well done because at half-time I said - this is a cup tie, cup ties are about winning. It's not like get a draw and three points this week and a draw and a point there next week. It's about winning because if we lose tonight we are out, but we've won and we're through and that's what is really important. "
" He (Marc Bridge-Wilkinson) did play well and he played well on Saturday. He's a lovely asset to have around, he can pass and he can play and he can unlock things. Now he's found a couple of goals as well so it's really pleasing for him and for me obviously. We just switched it around a little bit, we knew that we couldn't get on to the ball as well as we liked, so we just asked Bridgey to step a little bit further forward and just try to nulify the guy that was getting on the ball.
" Not only did he do that but he created a lot of things himself, and he found the second goal which did settle us a wee bit. So I'm pleased for him that he has got the man-of-the-match award, he's got things to live up to and I hope that he can do that.
" Kevin (Gall) likes to play down the middle as you probably know. He'll do a job on the right when he has to but he has certainly got goals in him, he's got that pace but just every now and then he nicks offside when he shouldn't and doesn't have to. Two goals though will be good for him, I was shouting at him to get his hat-trick to see if he could find that, as I was with Danny (Graham) on Saturday. He'll maybe have another opportunity to see if he can find one one day.
" He (Peter Murphy) came off on Saturday as you will remember with a little bit of a groin strain, he said that he'd be OK to play if I wanted him to. My decision though was to leave him out and rest that up, then I've got him nice and fresh for the weekend. Obviously with young Joe (Garner) we knew that he wasn't available on Saturday coming up so we thought that we would keep him there incase I need him to help win this game. At the same time though we need to look at other people and Kevin Gall has now got two goals and pushed his claim right to the front. "
" I've got this squad of players, this group of players, I keep telling you that there is not enough of them but they are good players and they need to keep playing. There is nothing like getting your games in, I'm not the sort of nice bloke who will just say - oh well, I'll give him a game today and let him get on with it. You are trying to win and are trying to do things but there will be times that I'll need people like Jeff (Smith), I'll need Simon (Hackney), I'll need all these people to switch around.
" I don't think that Simon has ever played on the right before so that was an interesting one for him to have a little look at. I'm not trying to be clever, I will need people to be able to do different things in this group and I need to know that quite quickly. Jeff has done a good job because we tucked him inside a little bit when we made the changes. We tightened up our midfield so that Bridgey and Lummy (Chris Lumsdon) didn't get pulled around a wee bit and Jeff did a good job in there.
" This section is going to take some winning but it's nice to be in there with them. That's what we said, it's a cup tie and now we can look ahead to another draw and see what we get and who we get, and see if we can progress, that's the idea of it all.
" We just talked about Yeovil in there and said that it is a 1pm kick-off so we are going to go down pretty early on Friday. Train at the bottom end when we get there, these guys need a bit of rest and recovery now, I'm sure that Yeovil will as well but these boys have got the long journey. We then will prepare them on Saturday for that early kick-off, it does throw people out a little bit but if we prepare it right then they will be ready.
" We'll keep trying very hard, I've always said that there will be days when we need some help and there was a bit of help needed tonight but we've come through it. Let's hope that we can work that bit harder and keep that crisp football going, it's OK. "