Manager John Coleman gives his thoughts on Saturday’s performance in the goalless draw at home to Northampton Town and looks ahead to Tuesday night’s encounter against Chesterfield at the B2net Stadium.
“I have to say we played well. Northampton are a good side, they are well organised,” said Coleman. "I was scathing about the way we defended last week and I have got to praise the way we defended today. I thought Josh Lillis was magnificent, positive from the word go, his distribution was excellent and the four in front of him defended really well. We knew there was going to be an early onslaught; they’re a good well organised side who pose a lot of problems from set plays as Cardiff found out to their cost on Tuesday. But we stuck to our game plan, we knew our football would create chances and I think we did. On another day we could have scored goals and won the game.
“What has impressed me since this new dawn has started is the work rate and the appetite of the players and the way they’re giving their all for 90 minutes, and even 120 minutes last weekend. The players were on their knees after the Barnsley game with the effort they put in, and today on a hot and sticky day they’ve proved they are the fitter team in the last 10/15 minutes. We were the ones asking the most questions and having the most shots so that is pleasing and we’ve got to continue with that.
He continued: “We’ll watch the video, we’ll study where we think we can improve and we’ll show the players where we did well. It is a fine balancing act as manager between hitting the players with a stick when you think they’ve done wrong and praising them when you think they’re right because you don’t want to deflate them, but you certainly don’t want them to accept mediocrity. [The match on Tuesday] is going to be another tough game, but we’re relishing every game we play.”