Joey, I don’t want to get you into trouble but we have to start with the penalty that wasn’t, I think Aaron’s reaction alone showed that he was very hard done by today….
Yeah, it’s a stonewall penalty. We’ve watched officials Tuesday night miss a ball being three yards over the line for the opposition, so nothing that I see at this level surprises me anymore.
I think he’s the only man in the stadium who doesn’t think that’s a penalty. I think even every person involved with Mansfield knows that’s a penalty.
So, disappointing because it would have been a really good three points, three points I felt we deserved on the balance of play in the second half.
I felt we were the side pushing on and really trying to win it. I know there were some moments but apart from that no real clear-cut moments, but in tight games against teams that are closely matched, you’re relying on, if there is a big call to be made, the ref has to get it right. If he’d have done that, we’d have won the game today.
I’m disappointed, but it’s another point on the board and we have to dust ourselves down and go again Tuesday.
Conditions were horrible. I wonder what you said at half time... Was it the conditions that made your second half performance so much better?
I’d like to think it was the tactics and having a word with the lads, but no. It was always going to be that way. Myself and Couttsy (Paul Coutts) spoke before the game. We felt that we’d let Sutton off the hook in the away game by taking the downhill wind in the first half.
I felt that was maybe not the wisest thing to do. I’ve always allowed the captain to make those decisions until they go wrong and then you have to step in and use your experience.
Me and Couttsy spoke before the game and we felt we were better to absorb. We knew they’d come and try to slow the game down, take the crowd away.
We felt it was better to absorb the wind, that meant we weren’t going to potentially play the best type of football and we had to hang in there, without a number nine who can get you up the park, which Aaron isn’t, he gets you up the park in other ways.
We knew it was going to be tricky and to be fair they kept us scrapping and pushed back until half time. But we knew in the second half we’d improve and I thought right across the board the lads were superb.
The Gasheads got with them at the start of the second half and again we were the team trying to win the game.
And after what can’t have been an easy week for Connor Taylor to come back into the side with a man of the match performance, it says a lot about his character…
It does, yeah. And it shows how much we missed him during the week. He’s becoming a massive player in our team and it’s tricky when you miss the spine of the team. I say that with the greatest respect to the lads who played instead.
But we didn’t have Belly, and you’ve seen what a massive difference Belly can make, Anssi’s made some great saves and done a really good job, but the ability to sweep the line and when the ball goes in behind.
Plus also the experience that Connor and James have got from playing a load of games together really helped us again today, a contributing factor obviously to a clean sheet.
But also Sam Finley not quite 100 per cent Tuesday and obviously Evo (Antony Evans) as you know was carrying an injury and didn’t last, plus then you’re losing Ryan Loft, where we invested money, because we need that focal point to the attack.
We haven’t had a centre forward as we would like all year. Clarkey (Leon Clarke) and Lofty are getting closer to fitness and I think when they come back in, if we get them playing consistently, I think it will allow the rest of the team to flourish.
Credit to Azza, he works tirelessly up there, takes the knocks and bumps for the team. I felt second half he was superb and should have had a penalty, but ended up with a yellow card for diving, which was annoying.
There’s scrutiny on who you pick on goal more than any other position. Did your decision to play James show that he is your number one goalkeeper at the moment?
I think everybody is aware of that (Belshaw is first choice), the good thing is when you’re a manager and you make a decision, everybody already knows the decision.
I think everybody coming to the stadium today and all of the players, even the goalies they’re aware of it.
They train in isolation a lot of the week and there’s a hierarchy there. I’ve said lots of times that we’ve got two fantastic goalies but we’ve actually got three, if you tap on young Jed Ward.
His minutes have been impacted because he’s come in for cover while Anssi’s been out. Then he gets a loan and gets some games but then Belly gets a knock and he’s recalled.
It hasn’t been ideal for Jed, but we’re blessed to have three good goalies and the competition for places there then drives the standards and whoever is in the number one jersey, will be a good goalie.
I think Belly, based on what he’s done since I’ve been at the football club and he’s been at the football club, at this moment in time, our number one and I think Anssi aware of that, he’s not happy about that and he’ll want to have a say in that.
The way he played in the two games he came in for, I think he showed just what a quality shot-stopper and operator he is.
So, great problems to have and again a clean sheet on the board today. Belly has probably had his quietest game, so long may that continue.
A quick word on Antony Evans, how long do you expect him to be out for?
We got to it early. Obviously, we took him off in the Oldham game as a precaution because he just wasn’t moving right.
I have to be careful what I say because the medical staff and doctors get after me for saying too much information, but I just tell the truth.
He’s probably looking at another seven to ten days. If you ask the player, it differentiates, but he’ll be out for a few games.
It’s not on the serious side, but it’s still a blow to not have someone who’s been a talisman for the team.
It would be nice to have our strongest team on the pitch for a consecutive run of games. But, that will come.
I see that as a point gained, and with a better official or VAR, it would have been three.
What is Antony’s injury? You took him off without knowing exactly what was wrong but just seeing that he didn’t look right….
He just had a tight hamstring. He’s had a scan this weekend and everything is fine. You’ve just got to be careful with it because if they go you’re looking at 6,8 or 10 weeks and that puts a player who we need out for a period that will put us at a disadvantage because there’s not much time left in the season.
We had to make a call and it was disappointing to lose him early in the game after he felt he could push on and play, in hindsight we wouldn’t have risked him in the game, but he wanted to play.
He said he felt fine in the warm-up and then obviously as soon as the game started he just felt it. So, it’s one of those things where it’s tough.
He is a player who can open a door from a set-play or a moment of quality and he’s been a huge player for us.
But his injury has given someone else an opportunity. I thought young Elliot Anderson was superb today. I thought Harry Anderson did really well, certainly in the second half.
It’s going to be a squad effort if we’re going to be successful. There’s going to be suspensions and injuries, but we’ve just got to keep making a fist of it every single week and we’ve got a good squad so we’re lucky.
You pleaded energy from the terraces in your open letter. In the first half it was very difficult to get into the game because of the way the game developed with the conditions. You did have it for roughly 25 minutes at the start of the second half where they were right behind the team, because the team was on the front foot. But you seemed to lose a bit of momentum, was that good game management by Mansfield to break it up. Was it the players, not necessarily being knocked out of the rhythm by the penalty decision not being given, how did you see that 10/15 minute spell after you were really dominant for the first 20 of that second half?
They’re a lot more experienced than us and they’ve got that winning formula from the run they’ve been on.
I think they looked like the team who were really happy with a point here today. Obviously, it keeps them in the ascendency.
The conditions in the first half contributed to it being a game of two halves.
For us, maybe it was that refereeing decision. You get a penalty there and you score to go 1-0 up – which should’ve done because it’s a stonewaller – then the fans get behind you and you push on for a second and a third goal.
Second half, the players really fed the terraces and the terraces responded, which created that wave of pressure.
You have to give them credit. They have players who know how to run the clock down, and in the first half, the amount of fouls they bought. Kicked it, screamed and dived on the floor.
I said to our lads, and maybe that’s the reason we’ve got two 19-year-olds and two 20-year-olds, they are the dark arts that you have to learn. Using the referee, using someone overcommitting to a challenge to buy a foul and relieve the pressure.
It’s part of our journey and we’ve got to learn to manage the game out when we’re under pressure like Mansfield did when they were under pressure because they were on the ropes, but their experience and wily old foxes in there knew how to buy a foul, knew how to slow it down, knew how to get 30 yards extra when they had a throw-in.
Again, it’s all part of our learning. If we get pressure, we’ve got to keep that pressure on and turn that pressure into points, but I’m really pleased with the second half.
I thought the response was good and if the official made the decision he had to make, we would have won the game.
Have you had a chance to speak to the referee about his logic for the penalty decision?
I spoke to him and his explanation puzzled me. I’ve watched the replay back and what he thinks he’s seen, he hasn’t seen because what he described to me hasn’t happened.
What am I going to get out of it now? What’s the point? I’m sick of wasting energy shouting at officials, I’ve done enough of that on the sideline there trying to influence it.
He’s going to come and go “I’ll text Mike (Jones)”, I can just see. Like all the other 91 managers who text Mike this weekend, you’ll get “He’s f***** up, sorry about that”, but we don’t get two extra points put on our tally on Monday morning.
We’ve got to do more and take it away from the officials. We’ve got to keep pushing on and create more opportunities and take the game out of the officials’ hands.
We’ve just got to be better.
Obviously, there are a lot of positives to take from today particularly in that second half, but how wary are you of this being a setback with the Oldham result and also today. You played well but possibly didn’t get the points you deserve, it is getting to that point in the season where points are the only thing that matters….
Yeah, but again there is lots of games still to play. There was 57 points to play for before today, so now 54. We feel like if that’s the form team in the football league, we feel like we can beat anybody on our day if we get it right.
We’re yet to see a consistent team selection of our strongest 11. We’ve seen a small glimpse of that in the Swindon game and we need to be putting that on the pitch more often.
I’m a massive believer in doing things right and the score eventually takes care of itself. I’m just seeing things now, you’re seeing the energy in the stands.
We might run out of games this season, but the Gas are coming, it’s happening.
I had a fan come up to me today and apologise for the doubt. He said “I really doubted you, I didn’t think you could do it, but you’ve proved me wrong in recent weeks and I’m really excited about where the team is.”
There’s going to be lots of conversions. Saul on the road to Damascus. The Gasheads have been starved of success in football.
There will be some people who don’t like Joey Barton and the outrage that’s going to be out there, but I promised I would give them a team to be proud of and they can follow throughout the land, who won’t give up and will keep going until the final bell.
I think we’re not perfect at this moment. We’re not where we want to be. We’ve got loads of improvement to make but I’m 12 months into the job now and if you look at the group I inherited, the culture I inherited, the football I inherited to what we’ve got now.
We’ve got a young CEO who is desperate to improve. The fanzone is buzzing before the game. Great energy in the stadium and we weren’t good in the first half, but the fans stayed positive.
They’d have booed us at half time if this game was in the early part of the season. They had our back second half.
Great times and we aren’t anywhere near the level of football club we’ll be by the time my tenure finishes and that excites me and it should excited every person who’s got an affiliation for this football club. The Gas are coming.
Speaking of Bill Walsh, who is winning on Sunday night in the Superbowl?
I don’t know, I really don’t know. I think the Rams with Beckham, Stafford and they’ve got the best defensive player in Aaron Donald. They should win for me and it’s in LA.
But there’s a mad little story for the Bengals quarterback. He could be a dark horse so the underdog in me will be rooting for the Bengals, but I really like McVay0. I really like their arrogance and their energy.
The Rams will be massive favourites for it but I’ll be watching. My team is not in there, they were s**** again this year, the Giants.
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