How are Charlie Raglan and Chris Hussey after Tuesday?
Just from brief chats with Gav (Crowe, sports therapist), we are going to assess them on Friday ahead of travelling to Scunthorpe. Fingers crossed they'll be all right. Certainly with the types of injuries, they are not long termers so we'll be looking to get them back in as early as possible. Hopefully Saturday will be the one. Huss played and came off and I think he'll recover fine. Charlie Raglan with his back, you're never quite sure with back injuries, but hopefully everything is fine.
How late are you and Michael Duff prepared to leave it?
We have to name a squad to travel up, so we'll train in the morning and assess it as late as that, just before we get on the bus. Fingers crossed they are both included.
Is everyone else okay after Tuesday night?
Yes, I think so. It's just that time of year when you get knocks and niggles. Pitches are different one week to the next, boggy one game and rock hard lately. We've trained on Astroturf, grass and there's been a right mixture, with games coming quite thick and fast, so we'll use the whole squad, which we have and with a squad of our size you can't get away from that, so we'll continue to do that. The players who have come in have done really well and hit the ground running. We had a good spirit and attitude along with some good play on Tuesday night against the team top of the league (Cambridge United). Everyone else seems to be all right.
Grant Horton came on and did a job from the bench. How much does that show trust in the system as much as the individual?
Trust is the key word there, in both the player and what we are doing. Dropping players in there to suit how we want to play. We don't want to come away from it too much, although we did slightly the other night. Generally it's players working hard, waiting for their opportunity and we always say they are all going to be needed, which has been shown in the last few weeks with Sean Long coming in after being out for a while. Lewis Freestone has been involved, Callum Wright has come in, Sam Smith too, Grant and players will be coming in and out for various reasons. Grant has had a good loan spell at Bath City, with Jerry Gill speaking very highly of him and we decided it was time to give him a go and he didn't let anybody down.
How much confidence can players gain personally from coming into the team and being involved in that performance at Cambridge, digging in and getting the win?
Everybody can, particularly for the lads coming in. It's important they know what we are doing and we try to keep the message the same, so everyone knows their roles and responsibilities. It was a great performance the other night, a really good win, very solid, didn't give too much away and at the other end, we took our chance when it came along with a fantastic header from Sean Long after a good little ball from Alfie (May). It's taking the opportunities and keeping it tight. We are getting into the final throes of the season now and you want to keep things ticking along as we have done and the players have been an absolute credit on and off the pitch.
There is an off-chance of free agents being available. Any progress on that?
We are always looking and one or two names have come up over the last few weeks. We've obviously lost Clem (Chris Clements) in midfield, Sercs (Liam Sercombe) in midfield too for a little bit so we are particularly light there, but while the lads are playing well and winning, there is no point upsetting it. There are always one or two that come up, so we'll assess it and see if they'll add to us, or will they be squad fillers? Do we really need them and how will they fit in with what we do? Those are the sort of things that go on during the week, but at the moment we are fine, we just have to keep it ticking over.
Scunthorpe have been on a winning run until losing to Bolton on Tuesday. Does that show an improvement since the January window?
They've picked up quite well lately, winning four out of five. Bolton is a difficult place to go and we went there not long ago and got a draw. Bolton are on a really good run. There is no disgrace in that. They are on a good run and they have some good threats, which we know particularly well. We'll be aware of what they've got and what they do. We didn't do very well there last year, so we'll want to put that right. It's another opportunity for players to put a marker on their season and the club's season so we'll be going up there giving it our best shot.
Will they be fresher due to recent postponements having played two games this month compared to your four?
You can look at it either way and we won't pay too much attention to that. You can have some time off and feel fresher, or you can feel leggy. You can play a number of games and if winning, it's easier to keep playing. We won't look too much into that. We'll obviously look at what they try and do, the players they have and the system that has led to their recent run of form, but hopefully deal with it on the day and do our bits when we need to.
What's the message to the players this week?
The same message as always: keep churning out results, play 48 minutes at a time, reset, go again, listen to what's being said, give your best and see where it takes us. The players know what we want to do. It was great to bounce back from a sticky result and performance last Saturday by winning on Tuesday. Now we want to go on another run, which we've done a few times this season after a setback, following it up with some positive results and that's the message we'll be drumming into the lads.
The way this season is going, is it about putting little runs together as nobody seems to be on a huge winning run other than maybe Bradford?
Yes, there are a few teams on good runs, Bolton and Tranmere are coming into it and Morecambe have done really well. It's one of the tightest top eights or nines for a long time. I can't remember it being this tight for a while. You can lose a game and drop four or five places quite easily. We have to be aware of that and as they say in cricket, keep the scoreboard ticking over and keep ourselves in there.
