Bristol Rovers v Exeter City - Game Off Tonight

My toes are safe (see post below) and the game is off tonight due to the freezing conditions. It has been re-arranged for next Tuesday (December 7th) when it is expected to be 70 degress in the shade.

Bristol Rovers v Exeter City - Icy Cold City

There will be a pitch inspection at 11.30am today to determine whether the Memorial Ground pitch is up to holding tonight's Johnstone Paint Trophy semi final.

Given that the weather conditions aren't going to warm up after the 19:15 kick off time, I'm praying for an abandoned game as my toes have only just recovered from Saturday's game at Hereford! Selfish, I know.

Hereford United 2 Lincoln City 2 - Homework

Apologies for the late posting today, but the feeling has just returned to my fingers following frostbite suffered during Saturday’s game.

My clippings from this morning's copy of The Sun

The Sun’s football website: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football

Jamie Pitman sauntered out to the dugouts eventually to give his press briefing and said - with a grin - that as he’d been kept waiting by the media after the Shrewsbury game, it was now our turn. If a very important part of my anatomy had not just succumbed to frost bite it would have been funny Jamie. Then again, I hardly ever use it these days.

Enough of my moaning though.

Lincoln looked as though they were going to ease their way into the 3rd round hat after a first half performance that saw them leave for the cozy, warm dressing room having scored two goals and saved a penalty.

A superb dinked ball over the Hereford defence in the 19th minute from skipper Scott Kerr found Ashley Grimes - who had left the Bulls defenders flat-footed - and the striker lobbed the ball over stranded Adam Bartlett and into the net.

Grimes is on loan from Millwall and this was his second goal in two games for the Imps. Boss Steve Tilson said later:

“If that goal had been scored in the Premier League people would Have been drooling over it.” Well the away fans and the neutrals like myself were impressed Steve, believe me. A great finish.

Hereford struck back within four minutes though, desperate for a big money 3rd round draw. If they had known then that the prize was to be Wycombe at Adams Park they might not have bothered!

In a case of “anything you can do …” winger Rob Purdie – on loan from Oldham - ran on to a poor pass from Gavin Hoyte and, as keeper Joe Anyon was left stranded, placed the ball into the back of the net for his fourth goal in six games.

Just as Lincoln contributed their own downfall for the equaliser, Hereford managed to shoot themselves in the foot and let the away side restore their lead in the 27th minute.

Skipper Michael Townsend was shepherding the ball back towards Bartlett with Grimes at his back hassling him, but by the time Townsend released the ball for his keeper, Bartlett seemed to be caught in two minds and planted a scuffed clearance right at the feet of Mustapha Carayol. The Gambia-born winger was impressive all afternoon and deserved his goal, although was probably surprised at how easy the home side made it for him.

In the 43rd minute it looked as though the Bulls were once again back in the game. Midfielder Kenny Lunt sent a shot into the crowded box and it hot central defender Adam Watts on the arm.

Stuart Fleetwood stepped up to take the spot kick unaware that Anyon had done his homework studied the striker’s technique. The former Blackburn keeper threw himself to his right and didn’t just stop the ball, but claimed it mid air. It was at a nice height for him, but there was no photo-opportunity palming away from Anyon. The ball stuck in his hands and, as he said to me later, “Hey, if it’s there to be caught, you catch it.”

In the second half Hereford looked the better side, but it wasn’t until the 86th minute that they managed to force a replay.

Once again Watts gave away a penalty after tripping Fleetwood in the box and Frenchman Mathieu Manset - who had surprisingly started on the bench – blasted the ball in for his 7th goal in nine games. Frankly it didn’t matter whether Anyon had studied Manset, nothing was going to stop this fiercely hit spot kick.

Watts was honest enough to hold his hands up (again) after the game and said: “They were both down to me and I take full responsibility. I didn’t know too much about the first one, but it hit my arm and I dived in too early for the second one. There’s no point in looking back though and at least we’re still in the Cup.

The replay takes place on Tuesday 7th December at Sincil Bank and I think it’s too close to call. If Pitman starts with Manset it could make all the difference as the Lincoln defence looked scared witless of him on Saturday.

Then again, he started against Lincoln two weekends ago in the League and the Imps had no problems with him that day and won 3-1.

It should be an interesting encounter, but with a game against Wycombe on offer, I wonder if both teams will be as motivated as they might have been given their respective league positions.

Hereford United v Lincoln City (FA Cup 2nd Round) – Mischievous Imps

Its FA Cup weekend and I’m back to Hereford to watch them take on Lincoln City.

In the first round the Bulls dispatched Hythe Town fairly easily, but tomorrow’s game at Edgar Street might prove to be much harder work.

The Imps beat Hereford 3-1 last Saturday at Sincil Bank and so will fancy their chances, although they were brought down to earth on Tuesday with a 5-0 home thumping from Bury.

Manager Steve Tilson has started to change Lincoln’s fortunes though and they have only lost two of the seven games since he took over from Chris Sutton. I suspect that Tilson’s priority this season is to ensure that they finish as high up the league on the meager resources they have.

Having said (or typed) that, both sides will be keen to be in the hat for Sunday’s 3rd round draw when the chance of a money spinning tie against one of the Premier League sides is in the offing. The revenue a clash against, say Arsenal, would generate could make life a lot easier for both clubs for the rest of the season.

I’ve seen both of these teams once so far this season and have to say that the Lincoln support at Wycombe was one of the highlights so far for me. There were only a handful in the away end, but they sang their hearts out, were far louder than the Adams Park faithful and stuck with their side and helped urge the players on to a 2-2 draw despite going behind twice.

Hereford’s fans will need to be at their vocal best and Jamie Pitman’s boys will need their support if they are to recover from a little blip of two defeats in the league – the other being a 4-0 drubbing of their own at Shrewsbury on Tuesday.

The Hereford lads were motivated to beat Hythe by the lack of respect shown by their non-league opponents in the last round. I’m sure that Lincoln will show them the professional respect they merit – Hereford just better make sure they aren’t shown the FA Cup door as well.

Jamie played over fifty times for Hereford before leaving for Yeovil and then Woking. He returned for the 2002/03 season and then left again to finish his playing days at Forest Green Rovers. In August 2008 he again returned to Edgar Street, but this time as the as club physiotherapist

And Pitman once scored an FA Cup goal to knock Hereford out of the competition. After the Hythe game he revealed :

“I played against Hereford for Woking back in 2000 to knock the club out of the Cup and I scored with a header on the far post which was unusual in itself.

When Graham Turner signed me a couple of years later he told me that that header had nearly broken the club financially as they needed the revenue a Cup run would have brought. It would have been ironic given how much I love the place if I’d been the one to drive it under.

Now though, it could be pay-back time and I’d love nothing better than to help Hereford into the next round.”

Wouldn’t it be just like the FA Cup to throw up a feel good story like that? Then again, the Imps will have something to say about matters … well their fans will anyway.

What a Caulker! – Silver Spurs

When you watch a youngster playing, you never really know whether they will ever make it big in the game. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve told mates about a player I’ve seen and told them he’ll go all the way to the top … only to watch from a distance as he fades away and ends up playing away his days in the Ryman League or equivalent.

Equally, I’ve written off some lads who have gone on to make it at a much higher level.

Sometimes a performance can be deceptive as they are playing for a manager who wants specific things from them for the good of the team and so you don’t spot their full potential. Playing to their strengths for another manager and suddenly they are world beaters.

On Saturday though I saw a lad called Steven Caulker playing on the right side of the central defence for Bristol City and he put in a solid performance against Leicester’s skipper Steve Howard - one of the Championship’s better strikers and someone who has a wealth of experience.

Caulker is on loan from Spurs along with Danny Rose, 20, and when Harry Redknapp sees a DVD of his performance it should give him some food for thought. I’m not suggesting he should be recalled to White Hart Lane immediately and thrown in alongside William Gallas, but if he maintains this standard, he’ll figure on the Spurs first team bench next season at some stage.

To say Caulker had Howard in his pocket would be exaggerating a little, but the eighteen year old was impressive.

I noticed at one point in the first half that Caulker had come off worse in a tussle with Howard and was left kneeling dazed on the turf. Rather than withdrawing into his shell, he shook away the stars he was seeing and got on with the job.

Last season Caulker played 44 times for Yeovil on loan and I would be very interested to hear what their fans thought of him. Redknapp must have been impressed though to farm him out to a club another level up.

Brett Pitman and Keith Millen - I’m Back

One thing that most fans can’t stand is a prima donna. Often when a player signs in a big money deal his ego gets in the way and he starts sulking or sniping at the manager – not so Brett Pitman.

Pitman, 22, is a likeable lad who recognizes that – despite being star man by scoring 28 goals for Bournemouth last season – he must adapt to a new club in Bristol City and raise his standards.

On Saturday he started doing that with his first goal for the club and I feel his honest and unassuming character will ultimately see him become a hero at Ashton Gate.

After the win against Leicester he said:

“I haven’t played every week which I’d have liked, but hopefully that will get me a start next week and hopefully I’ll keep scoring and, more importantly, the team will keep winning.

Since I’ve come here I’ve found it a big step up from what I expected and it’s been difficult. The pace of the game is a lot different from League One, but I feel each game I play I’m getting better and better, so I was pleased to get 45 minutes.

Working off the ball defensively is something I’ve had to work on. It wasn’t something I did naturally and I feel like I’m getting better at it. I feel I’m adapting to the pace of the game a lot better now. Technically I have no worries about playing in the Championship – I’m confident in my ability.

I think playing up front is more difficult than playing anywhere else. You’re up against better defenders and the pace of the game is quicker and you have to do more defensive work than you have to in the lower levels, but Nicky (injured striker, last season’s top scorer and former Crewe player Maynard) adapted well and hopefully I’ll follow him.

You don’t get the five or six chances you’d get in League One or Two. You’ll get maybe one or two chances in a game and so you’ve got to be more clinical. Now I’ve adjusted to the [pace I feel a lot more confident going on to the pitch. I should hopefully push on from here.

He had a fantastic season last season and I remember playing against him when he was at Crewe. He was always a very good player and I’m sure he’s improved a lot. It will be a nice headache for the gaffer to have when everyone’s fit because we’ve probably got six good strikers now. If everybody’s fit it’s going to be a selection headache for him which I’m sure he’ll want.”

And getting that first goal was a relief. He said:

“The shot crossed the line quite easily (despite Ritchie Wellens’s attempted clearance). I’d have taken any type of goal. Clarky’s (fellow sub David Clarkson) come on and scored a fantastic goal which has made the last few minutes a lot easier than what they might have been. I’ve not seen him do that before, but I don’t think that’s something you’d do every day – maybe he’ll try it again now!

It’s nice to get off the mark, but I knew it would come and now I can just concentrate on playing and winning games.”

Robin’s boss Keith Millen was upbeat after City’s second half performance and in particular his two goal scorers. He said:

“I’m really pleased for him (Pitman). He’s been patient; he’s worked hard in training. We know he’s a good finisher and we know Clarky’s a good finisher and both of them went on and scored.

We had to change it. Jon Stead’s ankle’s been playing him up for a while now. He got another whack on it and he’s struggling to move so I put Clarky on because I felt him and Brett would try and hold the ball up as I knew we’d be under a little bit of pressure and I also know that if chances drop to them, more often than not they’ll hit the target.”

Millen could afford to make light of his goal keeper’s gaff in giving away the penalty and grinned:

“David James gets a telling off for giving the penalty away, but he redeemed himself with a great save. I’ll have to see it again, but it looked as though the lad made a good run in the box and Jambo’s made the decision to come out and the lad’s got there first, so no complaints that it was a penalty. He’s made up for it with a great save.”

Bristol are now moving up the table and Millen said:

“It’s a nice feeling to be out of the relegation zone and what it does is give us a chance now with that to grow if you like with two back-to-back wins with another home game next Saturday. If you do that you suck a lot more teams closer to you.”

On tactics and the second half revival, he said:

“That’s what I’m paid to do. You analyse Leicester and I felt the players were in the right positions, but we never got on the ball. We never got the ball wide, we never got any crosses in the box and we weren’t good enough on the day to pass the ball through the team like Leicester did so I changed it. It was unfortunate for Johno (Lee Johnson who was subbed at half time) as he didn’t do much wrong in the game. I just felt Skuse (Cole) and Marvin’s (Elliott) legs would be important and put another centre forward on to give us an attacking option.

Certainly in the first half we didn’t play like a home side and one of the reasons we set up like we did was I felt we could pressurize Leicester and stop them playing. And I felt we could get close to them, win the ball and then, with our legs and energy, go and give them trouble. But it didn’t pan out like that in the first half.

We’re pleased with the response from the lads. That’s their character they’ve showed there because the pressure was on at half time. The fans weren’t happy, the players weren’t happy and I wasn’t happy, but they responded in a good way.

The penalty save was the turning point, but quite often in Championship games things like that are the turning points. Goals change games and James didn’t have to make that many good saves today, but the one that mattered – the penalty save – kept us in it.

It shows the quality of our squad. We know Brett and Clarky can score goals. I thought Brett came on and held the ball up well at times, won some flick-ons.”

As for the injured Stead, Millen said:

“The trouble is that when players aren’t training every day, after a while it catches up with you and we’ll have to assess Steady’s ankle on Monday. He’s an honest lad who keeps working his socks off and if he’s not fully fit we’ve got a good squad and players who can come in and replace him.”

Bristol City’s Goalscorer David Clarkson and Sven – Freaky, freaky

David Clarkson spoke about the freaky and audacious 40 yard goal he scored to seal the win against Leicester on Saturday and explained:

“I read the throw out to be fair. The keeper tried to throw it to the left back and I knda read it and it fell perfect for me. I just thought ‘hit it, he’s off his line’. It could have gone anywhere and I was delighted when it went in.

I didn’t have a clue whether it was going in and I just wanted to hit the target. It seemed to be in the air forever and took an age to go in. If you don’t shoot, you don’t score. I;ve never scored from that distance before in my life unless it was in the U-10s when you want to shoot from anywhere. It’s just one of those things. You see players doing it now and again. It just fell perfectly and I hit it.

I was thinking that I should take it to the corner at that stage, but luckily it went in. I’m sure I would’ve got a bit of grief for it if it hadn’t.

I’m not sure if it was the goal of the season, but I’m absolutely delighted to have scored a goal like that. It’s one of the highlights of my career probably.”

Bristol turned the tables on Leicester in the second half and Clarkson said:

“I was warming up at half time in case I was needed, but whatever the gaffer said, it worked. It was important for us to come out in the second half fired up. We kinda got a grip of the game, created a few chances and go the first goal.

Brett coming on and scoring kick-started us and we defended well and got the second goal and killed them.”

And the Scotland international forward revealed that the Robin’s large squad has its advantages. He said:

“We’ve got a big squad now and everyone’s waiting for their chance. It was good for me to come on and for Brett as well. I’m sure he’ll be delighted to come on and get his goal and hopefully give the gaffer a problem and something to think about. He knows what he’s got on the bench plus there are players coming back (from injury).

I’ve not been on for a while and so for me to come on with still a bit of the game to go and try and put your stamp on the game was good. And I managed to get the goal which was absolutely great.

It’s a great result which sends us home on a high and the fans home on a high and hopefully we can kick on and get the results.”

On the lack of reserve team fixtures, Clarkson said:

“It gets you games, but at the same time you can work just as hard in training. Sometimes training is better than playing reserve games. It’s up to the boys like me to work hard in training to be sharp when you get the chance. If you get a run in the team you get your sharpness back.

If you’re just training you have to work that extra bit harder to make sure you’re at your best and the boys and myself have been doing that.

It’s difficult sitting on the bench and watching people get their chance, but you’re there to support the boys and you want the team to win. At the same time it’s up to us to come on and score goals and give the gaffer something to think about which we did.”

Former England boss Sven-Goran Eriksson was not a happy man and when someone suggested it had been a bad day at the office, he agreed. He said:

“Definitely. Once again we showed we are a good football team and can play very good football. I think we were in total control for 45 minutes, but it was a day when we couldn’t score and gave away two goals much, much too easy. Too easy and it’s a pity because if you’d left after 45 minutes you wouldn’t believe we would lose the game.

You have to take your chances and we created chances first half, we created chances second half and we didn’t take it. And then you are punished and we were punished.

Bristol City played much better in the second half. They went to 4-4-2 and put more pressure on us, but they scored too easy in my opinion.

We know how to play football and we do it very well, very often, but of course we have to score more goals and we can’t concede goals like that. Too easy.

The first goal was a good move from Bristol City, but you have to read that he will pop up there. We didn’t and it was a goal.

What can you say about the second goal? It’s like an own goal even if it was taken very well by the Bristol City player. Bad day.”

The Thai consortium that own Leicester have said they want to be playing Premier League football next season, but Sven brushed off any talk of pressure. He said:

“It’s nothing we talk about every day. I think it’s more positive than negative that you’re working in a club that has such ambition. It would be much worse if we had no pressure and who cares where we are. If we want to finish high up in the league, we can’t lose football games as we did today”

Looking forward to tonight’s Forest game he said:

“I didn’t know (they had won against Cardiff) and so congratulations to them. After this it’s even more important to us.

We’ll give the players a couple of days off now.

Bristol City 2 Leicester City 0 - P**s and Vinegar

In the post-match press conference the written press invariably have to wait until the television and radio guys have wrapped up their interviews before asking their own questions. However, the newspaper reporters will also have their own portable recorders running so as not to miss anything. And so it was on Saturday when Sven-Goran Eriksson stood in front of the board bearing the logos of the sponsors.

The Sky interviewer positioned him and then turned to the assembled press and said: “Right, everybody happy?” To which the Swede instantly replied: “No, I’m not happy.” And you could understand why.

Last Tuesday night I watched Walsall squeak past Fleetwood in an FA Cup replay after the non-league outfit had dominated the first half. The Bescot faithful jeered their side off at half time, but Walsall scored in the 58th minute and then at the death to see them through.

On Saturday it was practically a carbon copy, although in fairness to Bristol City they looked much more interested than the west midlands outfit.

My clipping from this morning's copy of The Sun

The Sun’s football website: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football



Substitute Brett Pitman’s 57th minute goal- his first for the club – and David Clarkson’s 90th minute lobbed volley from 40 yards settled the game, but Leicester must have kicked themselves all the way home for not making the most of their first half possession.

David James clattered Andy King in the 22nd minute to give away a needless penalty and then redeemed himself by saving Steve Howard’s spot kick with his feet.

Foxes skipper Howard has – by all accounts – been playing out of his skin this season and, while it was obviously a great opportunity to take the lead, the Leicester camp will have been wondering how they didn’t turn their dominance into goals.

Both sides started with 4-3-3 formations, but whereas Leicester looked to attack, Danny Rose (on loan from Spurs) and Albert Adomah did little to support striker Jon Stead who at times could be seen frustratingly waving his team mates forward desperate for their support.

In the second half Robins manager Keith Millen changed to a 4-4-2 formation by bring on former Bournemouth striker Pitman, 22, for midfielder Lee Johnson while Erksson understandably persevered with the line-up that had them on top in the opening 45 minutes.

Pitman scored 28 goals for the Cherries last season as they stormed to League One promotion and also added another three before his £800,000 move to City in August, but had not figured in many of this season’s games.

The Jersey-born hit man started the first three games following his transfer, but from then has had to make do with a few minutes here and there as a substitute as he built up his fitness to cope with the higher level of Championship football.

His goal showed everyone that he hasn’t lost any of his goal poaching prowess while he’s been busy in the gym.

Full back Jamie McAllister pulled a free kick on the right back to Pitman in the area and he rifled the ball home despite a desperate goal line lunge from Ritchie Wellens.

Clarkson’s goal was worth the entrance money.

Former Robin’s number two Chris Weale threw the ball out to full back Gary Cunningham on the left, but Clarkson was sharp enough to intercept the ball and hit the ball back over the back peddling keeper for his third of the season.

Afterwards Millen refused to be drawn into comparisons with Eriksson or accept he had won any tactical battles with the former England chief and when asked if he would be opening a bottle of wine for the Swede he nodded, but joked: “Mid you he might not want any as the stuff I have tastes like vinegar.”

I suspect that Sven refused; after all he was already leaving with a bad taste in his mouth.

More quotes tomorrow from Eriksson, Millen, Clarkson and Pitman

Bristol City v Leicester City - The Swede Smell of Success

Back to Ashton Gate tomorrow for the game against Leicester City and it's good to see both sides have picked up some good results recently.

The last time I saw Bristol City was in the 0-3 reverse against Norwich and while the Canaries looked very good, the West Country outfit seemed to be lacking in confidence.

Manager Keith Millen is nothing if passionate about the club and he seems to have started to turn things around. In the seven games since, the Robins have only lost two - against Cardiff and Leeds - and picked up 11 points from the remaining 15 available.

Unfortunately skipper Louis Carey will be missing through injury and the back four may be a little light on experience. However, veteran keeper David James, 40, will once again be standing between the sticks and doing his best to shut out a side managed by his former England gaffer, Sven-Goran Eriksson. James won 32 caps under Sven.

Since taking over at the Walkers stadium, the Swede has started to work his magic and the Foxes have won four and drawn two of the eight fixtures.

Eriksson's managerial record is excellent and the Leicester faithful will be licking their lips at the possibility of even a fraction of the success he has brought to other clubs.

In over 850 games, Eriksson has achieved a 52% win ratio. For England it was over 59% - what would we give for that level of managerial quality at the moment?
Then again, at Championship level there will be players who want to show they can mix it with the best and Leicester will increasingly be seen as a scalp. I think that the Bristol City boys will be up for this one and predict a 2-2 draw.

Quotes from the Walsall v Fleetwood Town Cup game – Spiderman

As Blue Square Premier side Fleetwood Town left the Bescot with nothing and yet deserved more, I thought I'd let them have the first word ...

Following the FA Cup 1st round replay on Tuesday evening Fleetwood boss and former Baggie Micky Mellon felt his side did well enough to win the game, but said:

“I’ve got a tremendous amount of respect for Chris Hutchings, but let’s be honest, they robbed us.”

“We were never going, to win the Cup. We outplayed, out-passed and looked more determined than Walsall. We were probably on the wrong end of a defeat and everybody knows it, but that’s football.”

“A lot of credit goes to their goalkeeper – I can’t stand him. Full credit to the guy. He looks like he couldn’t touch the crossbar and yet jumped around like Spiderman.”

There's no doubt that Walsall had personnel problems with several pleyers unavailable, but they really do need to sit down and take a look at themselves instead of taking the 'everybody hates us' approach. Despite the win over the Cod Army manager Chris Hutchings found himself being questioned by a less than impressed local media and said:

“You’re on a hiding to nothing in these games as we were when we went to Stourbridge last year. You just want to try and get through and be in the hat for the next round and that’s what we done. We were up against it when we played at their place when we were down to ten men after thirty-five or forty minutes. We had to dig deep up there.”

“It was a cup tie and they’re trying to cause a shock aren’t they? The most important thing is that we’ve kept a clean sheet and won the game and we look forward to the next round and that’s all that matters really. There’s things that we can look at and work on.”

“We’ve had a lot of injuries. People who have come through at the end of the day. You know, Macken (Jon) was just short and McDonald’s (Clayton) just short. We’ve had Grigg (William) away and obviously McGivern (Ryan) couldn’t play and Devaney (Martin) and (Darren) Byfield. As you saw with the bench it was a little bit threadbare shall we say?”

On Walker’s man of the match performance Hutchings said:

“Well that’s what he’s there to do. We knew when we were getting him in what we were getting and he’s come up trumps for us today and kept us in the game at times. He’s a noisy, bubbly character and full of confidence and that’s what you need at this moment in time. People need to stand up to be counted and that’s exactly what he did tonight and he gave us a springboard to bounce back and get a result which we’ve done and that’s all that matters when you’re in the hat.”

Having played this quote back, maybe I was being a little harsh on Hutchings in yesterday's blog in his praise of Walker and so I apologise to him for that.

Scorer Rueben Reid was also praised for his face-saving brace by the gaffer who said:

“It was a great ball in for the first one and great contact and for the second one he’s put them on the back foot and gone round a couple of people and slotted it in and obviously that just basically kills it off so late in the game. Get the ball in the box with that type of delivery and he can also get on the end of them and he can also create as he did for the second goal and that’s what he’s got to do more of.”

On Fleetwood and lower level opponents in general Hutchings said:

“I’m sure they’ll look back on the chances they would have had in the first half when Wacker’s (James Walker) kept us in it, but I would imagine most of the cup ties that were on tonight would’ve been the same scenario. League clubs will have had to defend well at times. They’ve got nothing to lose and everything to gain.”

“You can call it luck or whatever you want, but you’ve got to take heart from that. We’ve got to look to progress and do better and keep winning games. Hopefully that will be a springboard for Saturday and that’s what we’ve got to look forward to now. “

“We’ll be in tomorrow. We’ll be having a recovery session tomorrow in preparation for Saturday and that’s the important one now.”

“A win’s a win. We had to go to Stourbridge and get in and get out and we done a job there. Doesn’t matter how you do it, you need a little bit of luck. We’ve had decent games here and we’ve got beat so maybe our fortunes have changed and so we’ll see.”

“I thought we started the game well and then they wrestled it from us and took over in the first half to be quite honest. Second half was probably even Steven, but we scored the goals when it mattered. In the games that we’ve lost in the past the opposition have scored goals when it mattered and so it’s pleasing that we’ve ended up winning the game.”

“The be all and end all is that we’ve got through. It doesn’t matter how you get through. At any stage in any game the keeper’s going to have to make saves. You might need a little bit of luck. Whether we’ve had it tonight, doesn’t matter – we’re through. We’ve had a clean sheet and so let’s take heart from that.”

“We’ve got another game coming up and so there’s always pressure , but hey, we want to take confidence from the win and a clean sheet and that’s what we’ll do. There’s going to be tension. It’s the FA Cup, that’s what it’s all about.”

“We’ve put ourselves under pressure because we want to win the game and we haven’t been winning games recently so that’s what it’s all about.”

When I asked him abnout his own position and whether he felt the pressure he said:

“David Moyes says he fears for his job every day and that’s David Moyes.”

Striker Reid said:

“Everyone who watched the game will understand that it was a tough game and a real FA Cup tie. I think they came and were up for it. It was a bit of a battle, but in the end we came away with a positive result. That’s what cup games are like. From a lower position they’re always going to be up for it. To be honest, in the first half they done quite well. Walker’s made some fine saves and kept us in the game and in the end we’ve come off with two goals.”

“It’s a game of football. They had their chances and definitely didn’t take them. At the other end we took our chances. We win.”

“We went to their place and I think they had a real good opportunity to beat us in the sense that we only had ten men on the pitch for the majority of the game, but we battled hard there and it was another battle there tonight. I’m just happy to get a positive result.”

On his own goal scoring record – six for the season - he was honest enough to say:

“It could be better. I’ve had a few more chances that I could have put away. It could be more. I’m pleased with tonight, but I’ve got brace and effectively won the game.”

On the mounting pressure at the Bescot, he said:

“It’s important to win every game. Obviously it’s known fact that at the moment we’re not on the best of runs, but hopefully a result like this might help us turn the corner, you never know. Everyone’s got to stick together and pull together and get out on the pitch and get the results.”

“I can’t speak for the other lads, but for me it was just another game and I focus on my own performance. We’re all pulling together to get the right result for the club. We’re professional footballers we go across the line we have to focus on our performance and produce the goods. That’s what it’s all about. If you’re taking into account situations and fans and what people are going to get at, it could affect our game.”

“I can only speak for myself and I know that when I go on the pitch I concentrate fully on my performance. Sometimes things won’t go for you and sometimes they will and tonight it went for us in the sense that we got a positive result.”

“Games of football are there to be won and we done that. Maybe we can now get some belief and confidence around the place. Different players will react to the situation differently. I go out there and I just want to play my best. Other players may feel the heat a bit more, I don’t know.”