00:00Jack, thank you for joining us. We'll talk a little bit about how you've come back to
00:05Cawley first, but firstly we'll talk about the game we've got coming up at the weekend.
00:10The big one against Northampton, what's the mood been like in the dressing room ahead
00:13of that one?
00:14It's been really positive, as you could imagine. A really good win against Exeter on Monday.
00:20I think we played really well, played as a team. I think you could say we learnt our
00:26lesson from the time we played them previous, where we were 4-1 up at half-time.
00:30I threw it away and drew 4-4, and this time it was 3-1 up at half-time, and that was
00:33mentioned during the game. I remember what happened last time, and I feel like it was
00:39a mature performance. I think it could have been a little bit of frustration in the crowd
00:43where we wasn't going forward and scoring more goals, but the main thing at this stage
00:47of the season is three points, and as a young group I feel like we showed some real maturity
00:52in the game.
00:53Yeah, and I suppose there's a lot to manage expectation-wise, as you say, with the fans.
00:58You always want to score as many goals as possible. Ahead of the weekend, it's obviously going
01:03to be a difficult one, because it's difficult in the sense of we need to win, but at least
01:07we know that's all we need to do. So is that sort of a relief in the dressing room that
01:10you're not going to have to worry about checking scores midway through, because regardless,
01:15if we don't win, it almost doesn't matter.
01:16Yeah, exactly. We need to do what we know we can do, and that's win on Saturday, and hopefully
01:23everything else can take care of itself. It all went for us on Monday, and that was a
01:29must-win game as well, and if we didn't win, it would have been the same situation. So look,
01:33we're going to keep fighting, and we won't stop. We've put ourselves in this position, and
01:40only that can get us out of it. So yeah, hopefully we can get the win on Saturday, and that's
01:45all we'll be trying to do.
01:46Are you going to be wanting to know in the... Obviously the Bristol one's a bit different
01:49because they kick off at half-twelve, so we're going to know that regardless. With the Burton
01:53fixture, are you going to be wanting to know the score during the game, or is it just almost
01:56going to be like a, right, come on, we've done enough at full-time, tell us straight
02:00away sort of thing?
02:01Yeah, I think it'd be one of them where just after the game, I'm sure the guff would let
02:04us know what's going on, because as you said, we have to win, so if we're winning and
02:10Burton are winning, it's not going to change anything. If we're winning and Burton are losing,
02:13it's not going to change anything. We just have to win, so that's all we can control for
02:1790 minutes on the pitch, and when we come in, hopefully we'll get the good news that
02:21they've dropped points, and then we've taken it down to the last game.
02:26Yeah, and obviously now we'll talk about how you come back to Corey. Firstly, talk to us a
02:31little bit about when you heard, because before the Stevenage game, it was fairly late notice,
02:34wasn't it? You were still up in Gateshead on, what, Thursday, Friday?
02:36Yeah, so I got the call on Thursday, and we had Stevenage on the Saturday, so it was Thursday
02:46evening I got the call. I travelled down overnight, which was about a five and a half hour journey
02:53I think it was. I didn't train on the Friday, and I met the lads at the hotel on Saturday
02:58morning for pre-match on the meetings, and I saw the gaffer, and it was really good, gave
03:04me a big hug, and just said, welcome back, and on the bench, and it was just really good
03:10to be part of the boys again, like the mood in the camp then. I know they'd just lost to
03:15Peterborough, but they'd won two games previous, and everyone was high spirits, and it's just
03:19been a real breath of fresh air being back here. The place has got like a real spring in its
03:25step. I know we lost, I think it was three in a row, but you know we're playing good football,
03:30and we know whatever happens, we're going to go down fighting, and hopefully we can
03:35take it down to the last game.
03:36Yeah, I suppose coming back, obviously your ambition is to impress the manager that you've
03:42worked with before. I think it's safe to say that you've probably done that. Was it even
03:46in your sort of imagination that within the first few games being back, because it takes
03:50a while for, you know, obviously you played with us at the start of the season, but it does
03:53take a while for players to embed themselves in the team, but you seem to have done that already,
03:56so have you almost even taken yourself by surprise in that sense?
03:59A little bit, yeah. I feel like in football it's always about chance and a bit of luck
04:04and a bit of opportunity, and you know we've had a couple of injuries, so I guess that sped
04:09up the process a little bit. And the manager told me I'd be playing right wing back against
04:15Birmingham away, and I think some people would see that as a bit of a time to go in their shell,
04:23but I was with the gaffer in the office and I was rubbing my hands together going, that's
04:26fine, like, ready, I'll do that, no problem. And you know, we got a really good result
04:30there, we could have actually won the game and that would have been perfect, but yeah,
04:35kept to my place in the team for extra time, and I feel like we played really well there
04:40as well, so hopefully we'll do really well against Northampton and just keep going to
04:44the end of the season.
04:45Yeah, I was going to ask you a little bit about that sort of right wing back position,
04:48because I bet when you were recalled that was the last position that you probably thought,
04:51I mean, in goal, that you were going to play, obviously we know what your attributes are,
04:54you like to pass and you like to score goals. From right wing back, it's almost a different
04:58role, isn't it? But it's one of those, do you want to see yourself as the Trent that
05:02can do everything from that position?
05:05No, I wouldn't say I can do everything. It's been really enjoyable, it's something I've never
05:10ever done before. Yeah, it's just taken me a bit by surprise how kind of well I've done
05:18in the position over the two games, because it's been two hard-ish games, and I feel like
05:23I've held my own a bit, and I've been quite proud of myself, because I've never done it
05:29before, and it's been quite unnatural, but when you've got Smudge on the sideline and
05:33Dicko just talking you through the game and giving you ideas, and then the manager comes
05:38in half-time, because he's been in the stands for the last two games, he can see a bigger
05:41picture and he can tell what to do. Yeah, so with all the help around, it made it a lot
05:46easier, and I just want to play as many minutes as possible, it doesn't matter if it's in
05:51the middle or on the right. I think I played up front under the gathering at the start of
05:56the season against Brighton, so yeah, I've kind of done a bit of everything this season.
06:01Perfect. Brilliant. Going back to Gateshead, how did you find that experience, and has it
06:06changed you in any way as a player, do you think?
06:08Yeah, definitely. I really liked my time there. Started really well, played I think it was
06:1412 games for Gateshead, and it was a really, really nice club, really good club, really good
06:19players and good staff there. I feel like I've matured as a player, even though it was only
06:26two months, I feel like I learnt the game a lot more than I have done in the recent few years,
06:33and yeah, just added a few things to my game that I probably didn't have before.
06:37Yeah, and how has Scott changed the place? We all know what Scott's like, we've seen him before,
06:43you've worked with him before, but coming back with Scott in charge, how had the place changed,
06:48and what's he done with the players to give them that boost in this final running?
06:53It's hard, like, Gaffer's just a gaffer, like, he's so bubbly, so energetic, he makes you just,
07:01he makes you happy, he makes you want to play for him,
07:03and he just brings a breath of fresh air, like, energy around the place,
07:08and he gives you, he gives you that freedom to play and express yourself.
07:14Seeing it, it's been really enjoyable being back under him. I know how he's played,
07:17I was with him for 18 months before, before I went out, or, yeah, a bit longer than that,
07:22before I went out on loan, so, yeah, I know how he plays, he knows how I play, so we've got a good
07:27relationship.
07:28Yeah, and going into these last two games, obviously, you know what you've got to do.
07:31Can you do it?
07:32Of course we can, like, we're cruelly, no one thought we could get promoted last year,
07:36no one gave us a chance this year, and with two games left, we're still fighting.
07:41Yeah, we would rather be in a better position, but look, that's football,
07:45we can't dwell on the past, we can only focus on the next two games, and
07:47if it's not meant to be, it's not meant to be, but it won't be through the thought of trying,
07:52and we're all going to leave everything on that pitch on Saturday, and if we get through that game,
07:56we'll leave everything at Shrewsbury away.
07:57And what's your message to the fans going into the last home game of the season?
08:02Come and support us, you know, we're, I know I think our work ethic might have been questioned
08:09at times this year, but I don't think that'll be a problem, it'll be full attack in play,
08:15and everyone giving everything to get the three points.
08:18Brilliant, thanks Jake.
08:19Thanks.
08:20Thanks.
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