00:01Jake, an emphatic 5-1 win at home to Altrincham. That must be a really, really pleasing afternoon today.
00:06Yeah, brilliant. It's had a little bit of everything from us today.
00:09So it's not often you win a game 5-1 and no complaints from me.
00:14I think after the first 10 minutes, I think they come, they were obviously a team in form.
00:17They've won their last three. After the first 10 minutes, they probably had the upper hand on us.
00:23We made a couple of changes tactically. And then from that moment on, the boys, brilliant, absolutely fantastic.
00:29I felt we were dominant from that moment pretty much.
00:34Clinical, which we haven't been in later weeks, but we are growing.
00:37We are getting stronger and stronger and stronger each week.
00:39And goals change games. That's not a new thing in football.
00:43We all know that. You take your chances and it changes games.
00:46And yeah, I thought the boys were brilliant from the front to the back.
00:49All of them pulling in the right direction, gave us everything we asked for.
00:53And yeah, a nice way to cap off a win.
00:57They arrived in good form, started well the first 10.
00:59You got through that and then got on top.
01:01First goal is always clear.
01:02Matt Ward ghosting in the back post to finish that off nicely, wasn't he?
01:07Yeah, Wardy was exceptional today.
01:09But it's something we've drummed home the last couple of weeks about our wide men.
01:13When the opposite wide man is crossing the ball, make sure you hit that back post.
01:16Wardy does that perfectly. Two-yard tap in.
01:17And then from there, another assist.
01:20And just from that moment, he was unstoppable.
01:22But it's a huge, huge thing because he's been absolutely brilliant for us.
01:27But he starts adding those goals and he nearly gets one five minutes into the second half.
01:31He's very, very close to getting the second one.
01:33But he gets the sort of goals he won't be at this level.
01:35Yeah, I mean, you know, on his day, he's a real handful at this level, isn't he?
01:39He's sort of proven that before.
01:40And that was on our plate for John Marquess, that second one, wasn't it?
01:43Exactly. And again, that's his quality.
01:45So we've got goal scorers in the right areas now.
01:48If our wide men start chipping in just by hitting that back post,
01:51getting those tap-ins that we've asked them to do.
01:53We've got goals from midfield, another three goals from midfield today.
01:56Like it's starting to sort of liven up and it's starting to look positive.
02:01And I'm really excited to see what this team can do.
02:03I mean, looking at our bench and the squad, the players we brought on today,
02:07like that's starting to excite me.
02:08We've got, we've got, yeah.
02:10I mean, the fact that we're just starting to sort of understand and build relationships
02:14and click on our rotations are coming off.
02:16Like it's, it's, it's really exciting for a coach for sure.
02:19John Marquess is obviously a statement signing, you know,
02:21from a football league experience and two goals on his home league debut is a great start from here, isn't
02:25it?
02:25Yeah, I mean, it's super important for a centre forward, any centre forward at any level
02:28to get their first goals for the football club.
02:31And he hasn't wasted time.
02:32So, no, it's great to have Big John off the mark and making himself at home straight from the get
02:38-go.
02:38Because the other thing with that is when players start to worry about him,
02:42other players become more free and then all of a sudden just his presence will bring into play other boys
02:47and they'll be able to pick up positions and they'll get goals.
02:49So, yeah, no, fantastic for Big John to get his first couple of goals.
02:52I mean, he deserved it.
02:53He's, he's been, he's been fantastic since he's come to the door with us.
02:56Not only his performances, not only his work rate, but his professionalism and his standards.
03:01So, like, that's a huge, huge thing.
03:03He's dragging boys with him every day in training.
03:05And, and, and players like that, they're worth their weight in gold.
03:09So, you, you want them to do well.
03:10And, and the two goals he gets today is, is, is basically the cherry on the cake from a really
03:14strong week.
03:15What was the message at half time? Obviously, it's been really impressive first half.
03:18Obviously, Portugal got the one just before the boat to make it three ones.
03:20What was the message sort of going into that second half?
03:22Well, that's it. It's game management, right?
03:23So, you have to understand that they have just got the goal.
03:26They have just, they are going to come at us like quite fast.
03:29They're going to have a reset. They're going to be told. They're going to be, they're going to come at
03:32us quite fast.
03:33So, manage the first 10 minutes. Like, once you kill their momentum, go ahead and dominate the game again.
03:38Like, and I felt we did that really, really well.
03:41Killed the game first 10, first 10 of the second half.
03:43We settled everything down.
03:46Four fouls at the right times. I think game management was really, really good.
03:49And then all of a sudden, you go back into the game, you start putting your foothold on the game,
03:53and then you go and get another two poles. And I felt, I felt we were super dominant in the
03:55second half.
03:57So, I think, even that, we're learning as a team.
04:00We're becoming more and more clinical up the top of the pitch.
04:04We're becoming more ruthless at the back of the pitch.
04:06And we're managing games much better.
04:08So, yeah, really, really happy with the performance.
04:11Timmy Akinola obviously offers that sort of box-to-box energy midfield.
04:14And he was in for the start today and provided that.
04:16Not known for his goal scoring, but obviously, he took his goal really well when it came to him.
04:19But yeah, some thoughts on his performance.
04:21I mean, Timmy was brilliant today. We know Timmy's strengths.
04:25He's fantastic athletically.
04:27And yeah, absolutely, definitely not known for his goal scoring.
04:30But he's never going to be a player that gets you 30 goals.
04:32But when it fell to him at the edge of the box today,
04:34all you can ask for him is to hit the target.
04:36Good connection, hit the target.
04:37And a lot of people you see snatch at those chances.
04:39So, he deserves his goal.
04:41But it's kind of a...
04:45It's an intent of us.
04:46So, he played really well on Tuesday night.
04:49Keeps his shirt.
04:50Plays really well again tonight.
04:51No doubt he'll keep his shirt.
04:52Like, that's...
04:53That's where we're at.
04:54Like, it's not playing favourites.
04:56It's not that.
04:56It's...
04:57You play well for us.
04:58And all of a sudden, you'll get the next opportunity.
05:01And I think that...
05:03That's all a player can ask for.
05:04As a player myself previously.
05:06Like, if I...
05:07If that's all I would want from the manager.
05:08If I played well, I'd hold my shirt.
05:10And then I'd play the next game.
05:12So, we've got plenty of opportunities to...
05:16Plenty of games coming up.
05:17Plenty of players that are all looking fit and strong.
05:19And all could play.
05:20But what you want is competition.
05:22The healthy competition in places.
05:23And Timmy's done really, really well today.
05:25For that, he...
05:26Well, obviously, I don't know.
05:27But the likelihood is he'll play in the next game.
05:29And we want that.
05:30We want that competition across the whole squad.
05:33As I say, you know.
05:33Looking at the strength of the bench today.
05:35You know.
05:35Sort of the competition in the squad.
05:36That's what you want.
05:37And as you say.
05:38If you deliver on the pitch.
05:39You sort of keep the shirt, don't you?
05:40Absolutely.
05:41That's it.
05:41And that's all...
05:42As a player, I think you can want from a management team.
05:44Is the opportunity to go and perform.
05:46And if I do, I keep my place.
05:48But yeah.
05:48I mean.
05:49We're getting boys back from injuries now.
05:51We're strengthening all the time.
05:53The performances are lifting.
05:55The togetherness is lifting.
05:56Like, we're in a really, really good place.
05:57And we'll be full of confidence going into Boston on Tuesday.
06:00And goals for midfield as well.
06:01As well as up front.
06:02You know.
06:02Roy just finishing off.
06:04Yeah.
06:04I mean.
06:05Again, that's...
06:06Yeah.
06:07The more goal scorers you can fit in the team, the better.
06:09But yeah.
06:10You don't want to have to always rely on your strikers.
06:12So, it's lovely that we've got wide players chipping in.
06:14We've got midfielders joining in, scoring goals.
06:16It's...
06:17Yeah.
06:17It's a nice place to be.
06:19Obviously, 5-1 is very happy.
06:21And it's obviously hard to pick out individuals when everyone plays so well.
06:24But I mean.
06:24The sort of the tempo today at the times.
06:26Presumably that's, you know.
06:27Altium were struggling to cope with it at times.
06:29And that's sort of a blueprint of, you know.
06:31What you want, presumably.
06:32Yeah.
06:32Exactly.
06:32I mean.
06:33I think a big thing about this is.
06:35We've been getting stronger and stronger and stronger each week.
06:38So, we can talk about statistics and stats and running stats all day long.
06:42But it's evident for everyone to see.
06:43We're getting stronger.
06:44We're getting fitter.
06:45We're getting faster.
06:45I know we weren't in a fantastic place before the season started.
06:49We've addressed that.
06:50But now you can see the process is working.
06:53And you can see us start to run over teams.
06:54And we will get stronger as the season goes, for sure.
06:56Yeah.
06:56I mean, sort of without making excuses.
06:57You also had to come in a couple of weeks before the season.
07:00You knew you were behind.
07:01And sort of, you know, almost playing catch-up in pre-season.
07:03It's almost now going to bear through, isn't it?
07:05Exactly that.
07:06Exactly that.
07:06And obviously, like, don't get me wrong.
07:07We don't feel like we've cracked it.
07:09This isn't.
07:09It's a great day.
07:10It's a great thing.
07:10But football, there's lots of ups and downs.
07:12But each day, as long as we're making a step in the right direction,
07:15those five, ten percent differences all the time,
07:17then we'll be on a nice trajectory.
07:19And as I say, I think we will grow throughout the season
07:22and we'll be a real force to be reckoned with.
07:23And obviously, to back up, you know, Tuesday night,
07:25you know, Southampton 4-1 in the National League Cup,
07:27you know, nine goals in two games, two big wins.
07:29You know, that's sort of momentum you want to sort of look afield, isn't it?
07:32Yeah, nine goals in a week is not bad at all, right?
07:34No matter who you're playing, no matter who the opposition,
07:36nine goals in two games is great statistics.
07:39And obviously, you know, being so far up,
07:41it did give you that luxury of, you know, making subs sort of,
07:44you know, between 60-70 minutes, you know, resting legs,
07:46looking ahead to, you know, a quick turnaround at Boston on Tuesday.
07:48Yeah, yeah, you don't always get that opportunity.
07:50So I think we had to take advantage of it.
07:51As soon as the fourth goal goes in,
07:52it's the first thing we decided to do.
07:54Who needs a rest?
07:55Who do we need to look after a little bit?
07:57Who hasn't maybe played as many minutes as we'd have liked them to,
07:59to this point?
08:00So yeah, look after them, refresh them up on Monday,
08:04and then full of confidence, fresh legs, ready for Tuesday.
08:07Just a word on the moment with the fans at the end,
08:10you know, sort of real sort of celebrations,
08:11they've obviously stuck with sort of the start
08:14and you sort of enjoyed it at the end.
08:15Yeah, I mean, I know it's such a cliche, isn't it?
08:18The old 12-man one, but they do make such a big difference for us.
08:20The fact they've stuck with us and they're building and they're growing,
08:22hopefully they can see what we do.
08:24But that performance is for them today, for sure.
08:26Like, no doubts about it.
08:27They've stuck with us as we're sort of like taking steps forward
08:30and they've been brilliant.
08:32But the noise today, what a huge difference.
08:34And then, yeah, a nice little 5-1,
08:36hopefully to repay them for all their support.
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