|
"I think in the first twenty minutes it was even game, it was a bit scrappy, but once we scored those goals we looked very, very dangerous every time we got the ball. Fair play to Sheffield United, you know it's going to be a difficult game, but once we scored you could see the confidence coming back, and I thought we were in control after that."
"Well, we had the threat of getting behind them, and we have Duke who is full of confidence, and from our point of view they were good goals. They [Duke and Jason Roberts] are very hard to play against. Once we got the first goal we looked like scoring all the time, but in the second half we knew they would come at us, but the game should be over with a score of 3-0 at half-time. It's a pleasing result because it's a win today after two draws. It's a good result against a decent team, and even I can't have too many complaints!"
"This is what we had to do win football matches, we had to stand up to them and meet the physical challenges, but there was nothing dirty, they were just keen. We stood up to the physical challenges and fortunately we got the goals."
"I thought Nicky did very well, I have two decent right-backs and Wright will feel himself unfortunate but I thought he had been lacking in confidence in the last two games, but when he came on he did the job in midfield very well."
Finally, the gaffer was asked about the injuries sustained in the match, particularly to Per Frandsen, who had to taken off in the stretcher during the second half.
"Frandsen has gone for an X-Ray at Euxton so there's a bit of a downer there, we've picked up a couple of injuries today, but we'll have to wait and see what the x-ray and the scan says, but it's a problem with his knee. McCulloch got a bang but he's OK and Matt Jackson has a sore toe. I'm glad we've got a clear week but the main worry is Per Frandsen because it might be a serious injury, but we'll have to wait and see because its no good speculating until we see what the x-ray and scan says."
|
"There was nothing in it for half an hour until bang, bang, bang. I was gobsmacked because we had competed well but Roberts and Ellington have pace, strength and finishing ability - if we had those two I honestly believe we could have won the game.
"But again we have conceded goals through individual errors and you can't legislate for that. If we had lost through tactical reasons then fair enough but that has not been the case.
"For 25-30 minutes it was as well as we have played and the lads thought we should have had a penalty at 0-0 when Harley was dragged down. But when the first goal went in then their front two just took off.
"At half-time I told the lads that if they felt sorry for themselves they would get hammered and that they should play for pride and the fans who were fantastic. They could have thrown in the towel but they didn't disappoint me until the last ten minutes."
"Neither look trivial injuries and it is too early to say what the damage is. Lester has shoulder problems and Ward something wrong with the back of his knee and both were preventable - Lester was flagged offside just before his collision and I was about to bring Ashley off anyway when his knee went."