The Joker
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Port Vale (A): Press Conference Notes
<img src="https://griffinpark.org/images/20081115-170632-0342_200.jpg" hspace="5" align="left" alt="Andy Scott after winning at Vale Park" style="border:1px solid black">Andy Scott Quotes:
“We won 3-0; I’m bloody delighted!
The last couple of league games haven’t gone our way. Now we have had two tough away games and to go and win at Havant and then come here and win is very pleasing.
The sending off probably did change the game. They will probably say that it did, but I always felt that we were the better team and it was vital that we got the goal before half time. It gave us a lift and settled us down.
It is difficult when they get behind the ball and work that little bit harder because they feel there has been an injustice. When we got the goal to go ahead I always felt comfortable.
The first 15 minutes of the second half I wasn’t pleased at all with the way we played, but after that I felt we could have scored 4 or 5 goals.
Charlie hit the post and the keeper made a couple of good saves and Dean had a couple of chances and I don’t think Ben Hamer had anything to do all afternoon.
The second goal was vital and when we got it we had a little bit of breathing space. After that we always looked like we were going to get another rather than they get one back. I was pleased that we kept going.
I made a couple of changes to the side at the beginning and it paid off. I thought Karleigh Osborne was outstanding at right back. Again Kevin O’Connor and Marcus Bean in midfield did as they did last week. They tidied everything up in midfield and have us a solid foundation to build on.
We’ve had a look at the games over the last two or three weeks really and we looked at the successful sides and what they do. For all our good attacking football we weren’t scoring tons of goals. We were probably giving ourselves problems at the back when we were going a little too gung-ho.
So we’ve simplified it for the lads and made them more aware of their positions. Karleigh has come back from loan spells at Eastbourne and Oxford where he did very well. He’s fitted in great. He’s got to take his chance and I felt today was a good day for him to come in and slot in there. He’s got good pace and is technically very good.
I think that is something that has been levelled at Karleigh before. Physically, we know that he is more than able to play at this level and above. He’s got all the attributes to be a very good footballer and he has got better over the last year.
Mentally we weren’t ever sure about him. He’s a young lad and we were never really sure about him. He had some setbacks and of all the games he has played in the first team has, virtually, been in a team that is under pressure or not performing well and that takes its toll.
That’s why I wanted to send him out on loan. So he could get his confidence back at a level where he could realise that he is a good player.
He’s not the finished article by any means yet, but he showed today with all the stick that he was getting that mentally he was able to cope.
Marvin Williams tweaked his hamstring last week so he may be available for next Saturday or he may not be.
John Halls had an operation yesterday. He had an injection after the game at Havant on Monday afternoon which didn’t work. He saw the specialist on Thursday and we made the decision to have the operation done on his knee to tidy up the cartilege.
He did it at the beginning of the Chester game and while he got through that game he has been struggling. He wanted to play last Sunday but was in agony after the game. It’s a big disappointment but we’re hoping he will be back around Christmas or in January.
Dean has played there [right wing] before and has played in different systems. But I thought when he went up front he was a real live wire and I thought he and Charlie showed their intelligence and kept the ball for us. They created a lot of chances between the two of them.”
“We won 3-0; I’m bloody delighted!
The last couple of league games haven’t gone our way. Now we have had two tough away games and to go and win at Havant and then come here and win is very pleasing.
The sending off probably did change the game. They will probably say that it did, but I always felt that we were the better team and it was vital that we got the goal before half time. It gave us a lift and settled us down.
It is difficult when they get behind the ball and work that little bit harder because they feel there has been an injustice. When we got the goal to go ahead I always felt comfortable.
The first 15 minutes of the second half I wasn’t pleased at all with the way we played, but after that I felt we could have scored 4 or 5 goals.
Charlie hit the post and the keeper made a couple of good saves and Dean had a couple of chances and I don’t think Ben Hamer had anything to do all afternoon.
The second goal was vital and when we got it we had a little bit of breathing space. After that we always looked like we were going to get another rather than they get one back. I was pleased that we kept going.
I made a couple of changes to the side at the beginning and it paid off. I thought Karleigh Osborne was outstanding at right back. Again Kevin O’Connor and Marcus Bean in midfield did as they did last week. They tidied everything up in midfield and have us a solid foundation to build on.
We’ve had a look at the games over the last two or three weeks really and we looked at the successful sides and what they do. For all our good attacking football we weren’t scoring tons of goals. We were probably giving ourselves problems at the back when we were going a little too gung-ho.
So we’ve simplified it for the lads and made them more aware of their positions. Karleigh has come back from loan spells at Eastbourne and Oxford where he did very well. He’s fitted in great. He’s got to take his chance and I felt today was a good day for him to come in and slot in there. He’s got good pace and is technically very good.
I think that is something that has been levelled at Karleigh before. Physically, we know that he is more than able to play at this level and above. He’s got all the attributes to be a very good footballer and he has got better over the last year.
Mentally we weren’t ever sure about him. He’s a young lad and we were never really sure about him. He had some setbacks and of all the games he has played in the first team has, virtually, been in a team that is under pressure or not performing well and that takes its toll.
That’s why I wanted to send him out on loan. So he could get his confidence back at a level where he could realise that he is a good player.
He’s not the finished article by any means yet, but he showed today with all the stick that he was getting that mentally he was able to cope.
Marvin Williams tweaked his hamstring last week so he may be available for next Saturday or he may not be.
John Halls had an operation yesterday. He had an injection after the game at Havant on Monday afternoon which didn’t work. He saw the specialist on Thursday and we made the decision to have the operation done on his knee to tidy up the cartilege.
He did it at the beginning of the Chester game and while he got through that game he has been struggling. He wanted to play last Sunday but was in agony after the game. It’s a big disappointment but we’re hoping he will be back around Christmas or in January.
Dean has played there [right wing] before and has played in different systems. But I thought when he went up front he was a real live wire and I thought he and Charlie showed their intelligence and kept the ball for us. They created a lot of chances between the two of them.”