Manager Brian Barry-Murphy reflects on the week and looks ahead to Saturday’s League One fixture against Plymouth Argyle at the Crown Oil Arena…
“This week has been brilliant preparation for us coming off the back of Tuesday night,” said BBM.
“The lads were very disappointed initially and felt we should have won the game at Blackpool, but we’re really looking forward to getting back to our own patch and we’re intent on putting on a performance that will give us the best possible opportunity to gain three points.
“The lads’ performance and the way they stuck to task after conceding in the first half was brilliant. We’re normally pretty calm about refereeing decisions and things that go against us, but Callum Jones our Analyst was clear that we should have had three penalties and once he said that in the dressing room after the game, the lads knew that they must have been penalties, so a real disappointment in terms of the result but real sense of pride and excitement that we finished the game.
“We’ll obviously be looking to continue that on Saturday against a Plymouth team who are in great form but we’re fully focused on ourselves and really intent on bringing the energy that we showed against Blackpool to our home ground, and like I said, putting on a performance that we feel as if we can and will help us create a great chance of getting us the victory.”
He continued: “Plymouth have had their own difficult spells in the season but they’ve bounced back amazingly well and are now on a great run of form. Ryan [Lowe, Manager] has obviously done a great job with them and they’ve come through that sticky period, and now that they are reaping the rewards of that, it must feel great for them.
“Our performances recently have been very good and the lads are in very good form, so it’s not a case of me trying to build up any sense of false hope or disguise to the players that they aren’t in great form, because they are.
“The lads in the changing room and on the training ground going into the game on Tuesday were vibrant and they couldn’t wait to take on Blackpool. That attitude and that personality was evident in all aspects of the display, so that’s all we want and we want to repeat that on Saturday.
“We can’t guarantee anything on Saturday but we’re very aware of the results at home and the only way we can put that right is by performing and really focusing on our training processes and the way we want to do things, and producing more and more evidence of that at our home stadium.
"The lads are really looking forward to playing at home. We’ve had some great days at home recently in recent seasons, and the players have always looked forward to that. That hasn’t gone away but there is a little bit of disappointment in our results, but if we get the performance right on Saturday, we know the rest will take care of itself.”
Watch the Boss’ pre-match interview in full on iFollow Dale.