You played so well in the second half, the first half was a little frustrating. How do you feel at the end of it?
Disappointed, we have gone in 1-0 down at half time, where the lads needed to show a response, we changed a little bit tactically and we've come away with a 2-2 draw when we were 2-1 up in the second half.
So many positives but you are always looking to improve always looking to shut teams down. We have to be better in those final moments and when the balls are getting thrown into the box we have to be more disciplined in those situations.
Disappointed, obviously, and I think the whole stadium will go home disappointed but coming in 1-0 down at half time to a team that doesn't concede many goals to go on and score two, there were an awful lot of positives. We just have to be better in that final moments.
The tactical change certainly did help but it just seemed that the players were more aggressive on the ball and looking to try and get in behind and the front two when you got the ball to them were almost unplayable at times.
First half we felt Josh (Coburn) was a little bit isolated against the back three on his own, Aaron Collins playing in behind him was struggling to support him, Scotty (Sinclair) and Antony Evans on either side were getting dragged back, their wing-backs seemed to feel that they were getting on top whereas second half because Scotty was in a more advanced position their back five had to stay back.
We then changed to a back five which then allows our midfield to get on the ball and I thought our three centre-halves, beefy coming on again and controlling the tempo of the game, and our outside centre-backs stepping in.
I thought it worked superbly well, Antony Evans is probably in his best position because Scotty is now taking up a wide slot, Lewis Gordon on the other side suddenly Antony Evans can now play in a position where the fans are really used to him playing this season,
I think we dominated possession and we got to take up more chances really, we have created an awful lot of chances and we should be well out of sight even before that freekick towards the end.
Its difficult as well because Aaron Collins got a goal and a assist today but he is still frustrated with himself that he didn't get himself a hat trick.
Yeah, he should be. We have been working with Aaron for 18 months but I have known Aaron for 5-6 years, I played with him at Tranmere and he has got a wonderful mentality, doesnt let things get him down and doesnt really show disappointment, that won't affect him but what I would say is, a couple of chances that he does miss, could be crucial to our forward momentum, you miss a chance and the other team always has an opportunity to get back into the game,
He knows he needs to do better but it's not just Aaron, we created a lot of chances, we miss as a team, we defend as a team, we score as a team, we are a proper collective unit, everything is together.
Aaron knows he needs to do better in those final moments, we work on that every single day in training, you can see he is getting better but today he probably should have had a few more.
Then at the other end of the pitch as well, I thought you defended pretty well all the way through but at the end of the match, you just gotta find a way to see that out, haven't you?
Yeah again first set play, the first one diagonal ball to Danny Andrew, their best crosser of the ball, we don't get tight enough and don't stop the ball and when balls come into your box in League One, you understand it leads to goals so again we had the warning first half, we obviously haven't taken that.
Luca (Hoole) gets brought on to defend the outside, a really good player with a really bright future but Danny Andrew left-footed so he is going to want to get the ball and cross the ball in. Luca has, unfortunately, sort of gone for the dummy and Danny Andrew's just lifted it up, Rooney was unmarked in the middle.
There are so many different phases in that game that you could say 'It was him, it was him, it was him', but it is us as a collective.
Ninety-nine minutes as well, it's very difficult to take, seven minutes like you have all seen and scored in the 99th minute so very frustrating but we have to be better.
It was a tetchy game all the way through and Joey got a red card. Was it for something he said?
I don’t know, I don’t think there was anything untoward. I was pretty close towards him and I think the referee has got a bit heated.
I saw the yellow card in his hand and out of nowhere he brings out the red card. I’m not sure why that happened, I’ll have to speak to Joe, but with the level of the performance in the second half, we should be really proud and take confidence from that.
We’ve had a really good week in training and the lads have taken on a lot of information. We went into a lot of detail and for the lads to perform like that in the second half, especially after the week’s training we’ve had, we’re so proud of them. On another day we get the three points, today we haven’t.
Historically very good game managers. I don't think you have conceded late on over the past year so you normally see out these moments so it must be frustrating to let one slip.
It is yeah, I don't know the stats but we are not a team that concedes late on that much, we have a lot of experienced players but sometimes we bring on players like Glenn (Whelan) or Paul Coutts for example, the real experience that we got.
We brought on John Marquis there who can see a game out fine, Harvey Saunders, everyone has seen how fast he is, he can turn a back line and press a backline as much as you want.
And Luca, who is probably playing his 60-70th game so you know we have tried to put on players because Scotty was a little bit tired, its only his second game, Josh Coburn was unbelievable all game, he ran his heart out, and we did bring Aaron Collins as well we did bring on John Marquis just because of set plays and they were going to start launching balls in.
Unfortuante. Its something we are going to have to work on in the training ground but loads of positives today, lads.
One of those is the volume of chances created, the evolution of the team, you have gone from a team that thrives in little moments to now where you can really get into that top gear and have chance after chance and when you have players like Aaron and Josh, they ager going to take one eventually.
Yeah absolutely, I think I have mentioned this before, we are like a school, so you come into the school and this is only Year Eight. There's an awful lot of information for them, now when you very first go into the school at the start of the year, you're learning, you're finding your feet, you're taking on a whole load of information but you are not an expert till you leave at the end of the year.
The lads are doing fantastic at the moment, they are taking on the information and they are producing at certain moments of time. What we have to do is find the best way to establish ourselves in games by retaining that information and doing it for longer.
Today we didn't start the game particularly well, second half we were absolutely fantastic but we need to be better for longer periods of the game.
You mentioned about schooling there, Aaron gave us an insight about some of the work you are doing with him one on one, working on one on one finishing, can you give us your insight of that?
You have to put yourself in pressure situations in training, its alright to say next time do a bit better but that is not the way to get better. You actually have to do it every single day on the training ground
All the coaches are like that, myself, Joe, Danny (Ventre) and Glenn, we work with the players individually because we want to make each player better, which will then make the team better and then we will get better results.
Aaron Collins is a very, very good player, someone I believe will go on to play at a higher level. He has now had 54 goal involvements over the last 18 months. I think there's only one person who has more than him, so he is a very talented boy.
We have to give him better solutions when going in them one-on-one situations because at times he is really confident and takes it quickly. Sometimes when he takes his time, it is a thing in football where players have too much time, well we need to get better when he has to much time so that's just practice.
Obviously having a partner up top in the second half really helped Josh, it seemed as well that he did a very good Ryan Loft impression in that second half, where he bullied their defence whereas in the first half there was a physical miss match against him.
He had a helper up there really so with josh he is only 19 he is so young, he is still learning the game, he has come in and has contributed straight away, he is a fantastic kid, always wanting to learn, learn the dark arts of football, thats the reason he is here, he will go on to have a fantastic career.
When you are playing against a back three, if you are not getting balls down the outside and crosses in, you’ll get outnumbered, its really difficult for any striker to hold it up against the back three because when you hold up one another will potentially come and slide in and take it off you.
So that fact we had Collins up there in the second half made more platform to play from which I thought did work.
Our midfielders got on top of their midfielders, our wing-backs got on top of their wing-backs and because our centre-halves are better than their centre-halves on the ball, once their strikers pressed we could break lines
Really proud of the players and they are really gutted, I'm devastated for them as well but so many positives to take out from today.
There were a lot of subplots in that game and also a few pantomime villains, particularly Shaun Rooney, who was winding up the crowd, he seemed like he was baiting players. It seemed like you were dealing with that pretty well and it is typical he scores the equalise, but it looked like you guys did well with that and overcame it?
Usual stuff from opposition players. It's fine, we have lads out there who are experienced, I think you only need to watch the second half to understand that it did not affect us particularly.
I know he goes the second goal but these things happen, he has done alright, he had a good game today, and scored two goals so he will go home delighted with his day's work, but if you look at how we performed, we completely dominated them. I don't think they knew what was happening
How do you think the game was refereed. Aaron’s frustrated he did not get a penalty and he was booked for diving again. It seemed like there was quite a lot of cynical stuff from them in the first half and you were harshly punished for that in added time. It didn't seem there was a uniform way the game was officiated from start to finish.
Referees are referees, it's a tough job. I'm not going to get on any referees, he sees what he see’s, we have the benefit of video replay on the side of the pitch so we understand that Aaron has been kicked by their lad, the referee doesnt have that at this level
What I would say is that they probably need a lot more help, the fourth official could potentially help, the linesmen, do we have more officials at these games so they could help
Did he make a couple of mistakes? Yeah, probably but we need to be better. It's not the ref’s fault Aaron Collins has gone through and missed a chance and its not the ref’s fault we haven't stopped the cross coming in, in the 99th minute
If we start relying on refs, there's no point in us being in the game.
You only have to close up little gaps in your game and it feels like you can be a top-half team in no time with the performances you are delivering in most games at the moment.
Yeah, we feel like we’re moving forward. We had a tough start in the league with a right few injuries which we had to contain, but those lads are coming back and we’ll have more back next week.
Ryan Loft is back next week, Paul Coutts isn’t too far away, and hopefully Harry Anderson isn’t too far away, so the squad is looking healthy.
We’re very tactically fluid as well. We can play a back three, we work very hard in training and can play a back four, so we must be a nightmare to prepare for, to be honest.
Loads of positives today. We dominated the ball in the second half. Can we create even more? That would probably be the demand that we place on it. Gutted, but we move forward.
With the red card, what happens when Joey leaves the pitch? Is Joey still able to get his communication across or is it on you and the rest of the coaching staff to manage the game from the sidelines?
We’re just focusing on the game there. I was getting messages from Joe. I don’t know where he was stood. He was behind the stand at one point and then I couldn’t see him.
I don’t know what happens now. For me, nothing untoward was said. You don’t know what happens in these situations with referees. What Joe said, I have no idea.
We’ve just got to focus on what’s at hand. We were trying to defend a 2-1 lead against a team which was going to launch balls into your box.
I’m sure in the next couple of days we’ll find out what’s going to happen with Joe.
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