Joey, two in-form teams that couldn’t find a way past each other, was that a good point for Bristol Rovers?
I don’t know about a good point, but it’s certainly another point. We would’ve liked three to keep our recent run of good results going. But, we didn’t manage to do enough to earn that today, but again if you can’t win them, don’t lose them.
It will be a valuable point, no doubt, come what may.
What did you do well and then not so well today?
I thought we competed really well. It goes under the radar sometimes how direct and physical Exeter are. There’s a lot of running in behind and turning your back four around and competing on the second phase.
We knew from the times we’ve visited them at their stadium that if we didn’t win those duels and do those basic parts of the games really well, it would be a tough afternoon. So I was really pleased we did that.
We got ourselves in the ascendancy getting that first goal. The only disappointing thing for me was that I just didn’t think we played enough.
We didn’t pass the ball at the level I know that we can and again we have to give credit to the opponent. Fair play to them they stopped us doing that and it made for a tough game for us.
A special day for Luca Hoole though, 19 years of age. You never forget your first goal…
Yeah, I’m delighted for him. He’s been a real breath of fresh air. He’s been first class since the opening gambit of pre-season and it’s another milestone for him. He’s Rovers through and through.
He’s been at the club for a long period of time and to score a goal at the Thatchers End. Scoring in front of your own fans in front of the biggest crowd that’s been there in a while.
I’m really pleased for him. He’ll never forget that. It’s a special moment your first professional senior goal
Two of the back four are 20, one is 19 and Harry Anderson was effectively filling in. How big a test was that for them today?
Huge. It was tough to make changes after how well the lads performed on Tuesday at Leyton Orient. Obviously, Nick (Anderton) was unlucky to miss out due to illness and again Sam Finley was touch-and-go, but he felt he could play this morning.
We didn’t train him yesterday. I’ve only just found out Hooley was the same, he was ill yesterday but didn’t want to tell me because he wanted to play.
Thankfully for him he played really well and scored a goal. But again that’s the level that the boys are at, no one wants to come out of the team at the minute. Again we’ve just got to keep fostering that.
Tuesday night we’ve got to put in another big performance. The players at every junction at this moment are stepping up and meeting the challenge.
We’ve got fourteen more fences to go in The Grand National and if we can clear them with a bit of quality, we might be into an exciting end to the league race.
We’ve talked about Luca getting one but I think he was appealing for a second. Maybe the ball had gone over the line.
Yeah, we haven’t got VAR at this point so I can’t see from my position. Certain;y with how tricky it was with the sun today. I’m not complaining that it was out but it was difficult to watch the game, certainly as it started to come down.
But we can’t lose sight of the progress we’ve made. We wanted to win today obviously but we’ve got to play much better if we want to earn those two extra points.
So hopefully Tuesday night we can back up this performance with an even better one and take maximum points.
When you took this job Joey you talked about what it would be like to have full crowds here, packed houses. When you came out today and looked around, you’ve reached it and you’ll hope to keep it going from here...
Yeah, and it’s been a long slog. When we first came in there was no crowd due to the COVID period. Then when they came back in, we weren’t given the best output and it was difficult.
But I was sitting in my office before the teams came out and were back in for the warm-ups. I turned the lights and TV off and just sat and listened from the belly of the beast. Just listening to the fans singing and the positive energy and atmosphere that was in our stadium today.
I just took a moment to be proud of everyone at the football club and how hard they’ve all worked. Every single person to a woman and a man. Every single one of them has worked tirelessly to get us in this position and we’ve got to keep doing that if we want to keep having great days and full houses.
We’ll play better there’s no doubt about it. We’ll play better as our season goes on and goes out. But I'm really thankful for the fans' support, it means a lot. The Gas are coming.
You had a great period after you scored. The crowd was obviously up but do you think that affected you, not necessarily in a negative way, but did you think you were a bit hurried in that moment? There were good moments in and around the box but there were a lot of shots from distance where you could’ve worked something from closer in.
Yeah, I just felt we were a bit snatchy today, Sam. You’re right to point that out. There was a little bit of angst in there. A little bit of free-flowing quality and confidence that you’ve seen at other moments, today we were just half a yard away from it.
But again there was still lots of battling qualities. We had to do things right to take something out of the game. But I think when we watch the footage back and the clips. I think we’ll be a little disappointed we haven’t found the composure we’ve shown in recent weeks in those moments where you get those final third opportunities.
You’ve got to be cool, calm and composed. In recent weeks we have been, today I think we can certainly improve on.
You mentioned that Sam Finley was touch-and-go before the game. Was that injury-related that he came off then?
Not injury-related. They’ve had an illness. Obviously, Nick missed a game. He and Sam live together, Couttsy is in there as well. It’s difficult if you do get a viral infection to contain it the way our lads are logistically down here.
We’ve tried our maximum to do that but we’ve had a couple of people catch it. Hopefully, as quick as its come, it passes. Sam felt fine to try and play. I felt when I watched him first half he did ok. I just felt he was not quite himself.
I can’t risk an injury to Sam. If you’re not quite yourself and you’re half a yard behind, especially when he’s on nine cautions. There’s bigger fences coming and more challenges coming down the track and we need to make sure that we’ve got our full complement available.
So it was a tactical one and sensible one at half time. Lofty was ready and we have to go and find a different solution to try and win the second half and take maximum points.
Organically you’ve built a lot of momentum through results. That’s led to the crowd coming in. From a big picture perspective it was important not to lose today because if you want to keep the big crowds coming, you’ve got to keep that unbeaten run going. You would’ve had more casual fans coming today that maybe haven’t come for a little while. It was important you didn’t get turned over and you put in a battling performance and kept that unbeaten run going...
I like to think they’ve turned up because of the way we’re playing as well as the things you’ve touched on. I do agree with you there that results are important. Everybody wants to come and watch a good side.
I think it’s the way we’ve done it as well. The fact we’ve done it with a style and a substance. We’ve had to dig in at times for sure. When we’ve played we’ve tried to pass the ball and be an exciting attacking team to watch.
Today, I don’t think we hit our bootstraps. There were little flashes and little moments. But we weren’t as fluid as what we certainly have been in recent months, with some of our performances. But again the fans have come and they’ve supported us.
I think they feel that good times are about to come back for their football club. We’re only custodians of what happens at the football club.
I remember being at Bloomfield Road last year and talking about trying to restore pride in the jersey. The fans being proud of the team for me this season has been a success. To make the fans be from the opening game of the season to now, for the fans to be interacting with the players and interacting with their football club in the manner that they are for me, we’ve been successful this year already.
Can we push on and get further success? That’ll be on how hard we work and how much fortune we get in the next 14 games, but certainly the days of darkness and the doldrum feelings around the Mem and Bristol Rovers, they’re gone now.
Good times are ahead. One of those key marker posts for that is the crowd turning up in the manner they did with the energy they did today.
As I say, don't take it for granted. We’ll forever be thankful. We’ve just got to continue supporting each other. Continue pushing forward and trying to bring good moments back to the football club.
How did you rate the sound from the dugout? Obviously, in a ground with so much terracing, it is different to an all-seater at a higher level.
Yeah, it’s difficult to get your message on to the players as I’ve found in any stadium. But for me just looking round beforehand during the warm-ups, I came out for a little look. You could just feel there was a different energy in the place. They miss a chance where their lad has a real good chance late on in the second half and it goes wide.
I’m expecting the net to bulge, but it goes wide because there’s that much positivity in here. Honestly, people miss stuff. When you expect to get beat you get beat.
When you think we’re going to concede late, lo and behold you tend to concede late. But people now are expecting us to win. They’ve come and seen us score late goals. They’re still believing in the team when we’re pushing late on.
For me, it’s no coincidence that you get a little bit of luck and a little bit of fortune when everyone is together and positive. So, there’s 91 other football clubs out there who are trying to do the same. We have to take care of our football club and do the right things all the time and if we do there will be some great days and moments ahead.
Today was, for me, a great day. We didn’t get the three best points and it won’t be the best day we’ll ever have. Most people probably won’t remember it in 15-20 years, but I will because of Luca Hoole’s first goal and the first time we had a sell-out.
We had nearly 10 (thousand). We were buzzing to get eight (thousand) a couple of weeks back. We hit just over eight for the first time.
Again, enormous effort and if we keep playing good football and playing this style of football and winning games, those attendances should just get bigger and bigger.
It would be great to think that one day in the future, we could be talking about 30,000 watching us play. I think with our fanbase and the ambition that everyone has got here, I think that’s attainable before I leave the football club, or at least I hope it is.
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