Queen of the South boss Marvin Bartley believes his players are getting their rewards for the hard work they’ve put in since he arrived at the club.
Thanks to Saturday’s 2-1 win over Alloa Athletic, the Doonhamers are now six unbeaten for the first time since December 2018. However that run consisted of two wins and four draws compared to the five wins and one draw of this current run.
Bartley said: “It is down to the players working hard, it’s about them taking on board what me and the staff are trying to do and them implementing that on a week to week basis.
“The reaction we have had is down to them, they have worked extremely hard to get us in this position, but it means nothing yet. Come the end of the season we can look at where we are in the league.
“For now, we have some big games coming up, the first a trip to Dunfermline, a difficult venue to go to, so that is our main focus. We are where we are because we deserve to be there, but we need to keep working hard now.”
However, as is becoming custom now for the manager, he said he isn’t satisfied with the current run and is always striving for more.
He said: “I want seven. Can we take it to seven unbeaten? Last week was about we hadn’t won three in a row all season, we’ve now won four in a row which is fantastic but let’s park that up and not think that our egos are bigger than everything else, let’s keep working hard and try to extend this unbeaten run and if we can get another victory on the way.”
With the hosts sitting in fourth and six points ahead of Queens going into the game it was a crucial fixture for both sides, but the 36-year-old said they had to enjoy the moment rather than put pressure on themselves.
He said: “You have to enjoy it.
“People talk about pressure on this game but I said to the players you have put yourself in this position because you have worked extremely hard so you have to go and embrace it, this is not the time to start feeling pressure. Go and embrace it, go and be big characters, go and be big individuals and go and be a big team. The boys did that today.”
However, Bartley stopped short of discussing the South’s play-off hopes after the game.
He said: “That is for other people to speak about, for me it’s about closing the gap on the teams above and we managed to do that by beating Alloa.”
