00:00 Scott, thank you for joining us. A rare break from league action at the weekend, but we
00:05 are straight back into action on Tuesday night as we take on Bristol Rovers in the Bristol
00:09 Street Motors Trophy. Can I get your thoughts ahead of that game?
00:12 Yeah, well it's a difficult one to prepare for because obviously Matt Taylor's coming
00:16 as the manager over the weekend, so we're unsure about what he'll do, what formation
00:23 he'll play, what personnel he'll bring. Will he come full strength possibly? Will he come
00:30 with an inexperienced team possibly? We just don't know. Which gives us an opportunity
00:35 to do a little bit of work on us, which is always important as well. So yeah, it's a
00:40 game we're looking forward to. The boys have done great in the rounds before, so yeah,
00:45 we're looking forward to the game.
00:46 Yeah, I'll just touch on what you mentioned on there I suppose. Is it a difficult one
00:50 now we're through to the knockout stages of what team to select because we've been able
00:54 to give opportunities to some of the lads who haven't had as many minutes in the league
00:57 and I suppose you want to keep the reward for them of playing these games in the knockout
01:00 stages as well?
01:01 Well, they've done great. The lads have done great and there's no reason why we can't continue
01:07 that. I think they've done brilliant in the games and we've played some good teams as
01:13 well. We've played some really good teams in that last section, so no, why not carry
01:20 on with what we've done. I think it's brilliant for the players to get some game time as well,
01:24 so no.
01:25 We obviously didn't have a game this weekend. What did the last week after the long trip
01:29 to Nottingham look like? Was it a mixture of recovery and training as well?
01:32 Yeah, so we obviously gave them Wednesday off. We didn't get back in until the early
01:36 hours of Wednesday morning, so we gave them Wednesday off. I think the best form of recovery
01:39 is to sleep, so the boys didn't come in until Thursday. We had two really good sessions
01:44 on Thursday and Friday and then I felt it was important to give the boys two days off
01:49 over the weekend because it's been tough and it's going to get even tougher over the Christmas
01:55 period. So I think it was really important to reset with a little bit of rest over the
02:00 weekend and the boys come in this morning raring to go again.
02:05 I suppose it's also a time with their families as well because, as we know, football is notoriously
02:10 a very difficult industry to take some time to see your family, especially as you say
02:14 over the Christmas period. So it must have been nice to give them a bit of a rest and
02:18 a break to see their families.
02:19 Well we strategically looked at it and looked at the days off that we were going to have.
02:23 When you look at the Christmas week, there's hardly any. I think Christmas Day will probably
02:28 be one day where the players are off and apart from that we're pretty much in nearly every
02:31 day. So it's important that they get that rest now and like I say it's going to be a
02:37 game that's thick and fast so we're going to have to need every player, which is why
02:41 it's important that these players play in the game tomorrow night.
02:44 Yeah, they are going to need every player. How is the squad looking after the Notts counter-game?
02:48 Are there any potential returns in there, not necessarily just tomorrow but in the weeks
02:52 to come as well?
02:53 Yeah, Deon's getting closer now so hopefully we'll see some minutes from him tomorrow night.
02:59 If he comes out of tomorrow night unscathed then we'll look at him being included in Saturday's game.
03:06 Scott, you must be delighted that you've had this competition to showcase the whole squad
03:13 because I know some clubs don't take this competition particularly seriously but you
03:17 appeared today and you've used it as a chance to show off your players. How impressed have
03:22 you been by them and their application in this competition?
03:25 Really pleased. Players need to play, don't they? We don't want a squad of 29 players
03:30 which we've got here and half of them not play. So it's important that we give them
03:36 plenty of game time obviously and I think that they've done brilliantly well. I think
03:41 they've done ever so well. I think we've dominated most of them games. We've had some good goals,
03:46 we've had some really good performances and I've been really pleased with the competition.
03:51 Whilst we move through the competition we still want to make sure that these lads get
03:58 game time and it's important to them.
04:00 Do people talk about Wembley or not?
04:02 They did that too far off yet.
04:04 Miles off yet. We haven't been measured up for our suits yet but not quite.
04:10 Excellent. As well as you seeing the players on the pitch and implementing your style,
04:17 it's a good chance for you to show the fans what there is in the squad because without
04:22 this competition you might not have that chance to do that so the fans can see what you're
04:25 doing.
04:26 Exactly, yes. I think the way we coach the team and the players, I think it's really
04:31 clear to see that they're very similar to how the boys in the first team have been playing
04:36 in the league action. We work on 11 v 11s every day. Everybody gets swapped around in
04:43 different positions and everybody understands their roles and responsibilities within these
04:46 11 v 11s. They're coached in depth and detail and they understand it and I think this competition
04:54 has really highlighted that.
04:55 I know you don't like looking too far ahead and you won't have fully prepared for Colchester
05:00 yet. I've got to fill a newspaper on Wednesday. Looking ahead to Colchester, what sort of
05:05 game are you expecting there?
05:06 Don't know. Not looked at it. Won't look at it until after tomorrow's game. But come Wednesday
05:14 afternoon I'll know everything about Colchester that I need to know. We'll have two days of
05:19 preparation going into that game which is obviously a big game we want to go and win.
05:24 With results in the last couple of months, performances have been good but the results
05:28 have been inconsistent. How frustrating has that been for you?
05:31 Obviously, we want to get as many points as we can. We want to try and stay in and around
05:36 that top area of the table obviously. But performance wise I think there's been good.
05:43 I think there's been some really good performances. I was really proud of the team at Notts County.
05:48 I thought we went toe to toe with a really good side with some really good players in
05:54 their team. I was speaking to Luke afterwards and Ryan, the assistant manager, they made
06:02 comment that the stats showed that we had more of the ball than them and that has never
06:06 happened to them since they've been there. So the fact that we've taken a really young
06:11 side there and done that I'm really proud.
06:15 Thank you.
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