|
" I don't think it was a problem getting ourselves up for the Southend game compared to the Man United game. I think that the expectations were much higher than before the Man United match because we didn't really expect to beat Man United but we went out and did.
" Now people think that it is only Southend, you've beaten Man United so you should put five or six past them but it's not like that in football. You've got to take your chances and if you only get one and then hold on for it it's still a victory in the end, so we did really well.
" I think the early goal calmed us down, before the game Eric (Kinder) said in the dressing-room that the most important thing was to get an early goal just to calm our nerves down really. When we did it we got it back together and started playing our football. We didn't play as well in the first-half as we wanted to, but it was a bit windy so we couldn't really play much football. In the second-half we took it to them more and played decent football at times.
" More in the first-half we went for the long ball because we knew it wasn't going to go out of play. In the second-half, Eric said at half-time, try not to put it in the corners as much and try to play it through the middle. That's what we did and got through for the victory really.
" It's probably the sweetest I have hit a ball in my career yet. I just saw it and I thought that it was going in, then I realised that it had gone in and I couldn't believe what had happened really. I took my shirt off but the referee came over to me and said that it was a good goal but that he would have to book me, I told him that I wasn't really bothered and that he could do it.
" If we get through Aston Villa we're in the semi-finals but people are going to say that we are not going to get through it. So we'll just have to take it when it comes really and set our stall out to go and win the game.
" I've got a bet on with Gary Madine at the minute, I say it's £10 but he says it's £5, if I've scored seven goals then he's got to score three times as many. I've got seven at the minute so he has to score 21 and he's on 19 at the minute, so I'm in the lead, he wants to get the £10 though.
" All my family were there, my two brothers and one of my brothers' mates came, my auntie and uncle and their two daughters and husbands were there as well so there was a bit of support there.
" I think all teams need balance really, sometimes it's hard to play with two left-footers on each wing really because one wants to cut inside all the time. If you have got a right-footer then he can go on the outside and put crosses in for the strikers so it's good for the strikers as well.
" I was a bit disappointed that there were no television cameras there because I did think that from beating Man United in the last round there would be television cameras there, but it's just the way it is really. "