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" It was a fantastic performance. They have showed an unbelievable spirit today and I thought our football was excellent at times. We passed the ball and caused them problems. We knew what to expect, they are a big side and they cause you problems with set-pieces with Rob Jones who is 6’7.
" We set about the way that we wanted to defend it though and I thought we were excellent in our attitude towards it. It was a tough game, especially on the back of the Rochdale game on Saturday but the lads have dug in and especially at the end when we lost Kevin Gray they showed real character and real spirit and I think we thoroughly deserved the victory.
" It was a penalty and you have to accept that. Kevin has jumped to try and block the header and it has hit his arm. He’s got his arms raised, it’s a little bit disappointing when twice one of their players has dived and he’s got two deliberate handballs and he gets away with it – we have one situation where he handles it and he’s off. "
" Whether it was going in I don’t really know but we’ve got to accept it, there is nothing we can do about it but we’ve shown some character. The lads who have come in have come and worked, Glenn Murray has worked his socks off and Adam Murray has chased everything that was floating around on the pitch today for his last little bit. Simon Grand has come in and defended and they’ve shown some real spirit and this is a massive victory for us.
" The win keeps us up there and we wanted to get something today. I was confident that if we approached the game right and if we were physically strong enough and mentally strong enough to deal with everything Grimsby could throw at us then I felt we could get a result today.
" We’ve shown that again. I don’t know how many times this season we’ve gone a goal down and we’ve picked ourselves up and gone and got a victory. I’m delighted for Zigor (Aranalde) because he took his goals very well, he said in there that it is the first time he has scored two goals in a game, it was great finishing. We showed real spirit and real togetherness, played good football and as I say we deserved to win it.
" Maybe on another time before now I would have taken a chance on Bridgey (Michael Bridges). He got his foot stamped on in the Rochdale game and he’s got really bad bruising around his toes, it’s very painful for him to run with his boots on and to strike a ball. I felt it wasn’t worth taking a risk, there is no point me setting him back and then we lose him for a three or four week spell so he’s been left out today. "
" He will be available for next weekend though in the home game. I thought Derek Holmes has come in today and he won his headers, he battled, he linked up well with Karl Hawley and we got our reward as a team.
"The thing that I look at today is the strength of the squad and the way that we approached the game against Rochdale, the way we battled away and got a result there. We’ve changed it a little bit for today’s game because I felt it would be too much to ask of the whole eleven to play two games in three days and it has been effective for us. We’ve got two big results, two results that really cement our position up at the top of the table.
" We’ve got to keep going though, we’ve got a game to look forward to at home against Bury next weekend. We’ve had tremendous support at home, tremendous support here today on a cold day and a long journey down here. Now we want them to come in again and get the numbers up at home and see if we can rise to that challenge, see if we can go and play and get a result that keeps us up there and who knows, maybe get a little bit closer to that top spot.
" We’ve had a tremendous 2005, I don’t think anyone can deny us that and we want to start 2006 right. We want to make 2006 as happy and as successful as the last year has been. If we carry on with the spirit we have shown today and the football we have played today and the attitude that everybody has shown throughout the whole of the squad then we won’t go too far wrong. "