Jewell after Rotherham win

Last updated : 04 October 2004 By Paul Farrington
"It was a difficult game for us as Rotherham are never easy to play against. OK they are struggling but you know you are in for a fight. Conditions weren't great but I thought we created enough chances to win the game and in the end I thought we were pretty comfortable.

"Rotherham came here last year and beat us 2-1. Once they get a goal in front they are very difficult to break down. Fortunately we got the early goal and then they had top come out a bit and were able to make plenty of chances. I'm especially pleased that Alan Mahon scored a goal because he did well again and it's important that we don't get too reliant on the front two for our goals. Therefore to get one from midfield is great and we need to add more to that now.

"I felt we were fairly comfortable throughout and that although we didn't really move into top gear, we were the deserving winners. I feel for Ronnie Moore because he's performed miracles at Rotherham to keep them up for so long. Hopefully he can keep that going this year, although you do worry that maybe there's only so long that you can keep pulling rabbits out of hats.

"After two draws it was vital we won today and it's pleasing that we did because we can now enjoy our two week break. Hopefully I'll be able to add a couple of players during this break because we do need to improve and increase the size of our squad, but as I always say, I will only do that if the right player is available and I will not go out and bring a player in just for the sake of it."

 "I wasn't happy during the week, but if you draw your away games and win your home matches you're not going to be far away. I thought that today was a difficult game, Rotherham are never easy to play against, I know they are struggling, but you are still in for a fight. The conditions were not great but I thought we created enough chances to win the game and in the end we were pretty comfortable."

"Rotherham came here last season and won, and once they get a goal in front they are very difficult to break down. We had to read the ball quickly and try to be pacy at the same time and not just knock it long because they are a dogged side. Once we scored the first goal we had to come out a little bit more and as I said we created a lot of good chances and won the game quite comfortably."

"We never got to top gear but I thought we were the better team throughout. It was a good link up from the two strikers and I was also pleased to see Mahon to score, although I still want to see more goals from other areas of the team, we cannot always rely on the front two to score goals. There are still areas where we need to improve."

"Mahon prefers playing more central because he gets involved in the game more, so that is his favoured position and he did quite well today."

"We've defended well in the past couple of games, but on Tuesday we had to defend well! Today, Rotherham put a lot of balls into our box with their crosses and free kicks and we had to defend them. Whoever plays Rotherham are not going to get an easy game."

"The two week break has come at the right time, because we only had sixteen players fit today, and we won't have any of our injured lads back in two weeks time, and we still had one or two knocks carried over from Tuesday."