Bees va Yeovil: Press Conference Notes
"It was scary. We played fantastic football for half an hour and deserved to be 2-0 up. Then we had a little tricky spell and they scored with their free kick. I don’t think they had a shot at our goal up until that point – which has happened quite a lot recently. If we had got in at halftime at 2-0, we would have been far more comfortable. Just before it went 2-1, Paul Brooker went through on the goalkeeper, but the goalkeeper made a very good save there. From 2-0 to 3-0 I think it could have been a lot more. But fair play to them, they battled back and it was a tremendous goal from the free kick for 2-2. Not a great deal was happening and we found it hard to get back to playing as well as we did in that first half an hour. That strike – that half volley – crikey – that was a top draw strike. It was fantastic for him – it’s his first goal of the season. What a goal it was.
"The strike against Tranmere was in a similar position, over on the right hand side – another volley. It was just a tremendous goal from a tremendous player. Turner plays his part on set plays. Perhaps not with the finishing touch, but he plays his part in several of our recent goals. Tonight, no-one can deny that it was an absolute gem. There free kick was quality too, but I think that half volley was a moment of magic.
"Honestly, I thought our player knocked the ball wide. It was 1 v 1, but I thought our player had taken the touch wide of the goal and not towards the goal. I was expecting a yellow card. The referee is closer than me – he was the last man, but I think Dudley’s first touch was taking him to a wide position rather than the middle; perhaps it was a little bit harsh.
"All there players seem to step up another level. Their keeper made a brilliant save as well from one of our free kicks. We had more possession, but when we had it, it seemed like that we were giving it away too easily in the second half. We have been working for the last 4 or 5 weeks about being patient, keeping possession. That is what we have been doing and that is what we tried tonight, but there were some moments when our passing was a bit sloppy. In the first half hour the play was top class – and we will keep working and perservering. It has only been 4 or 5 weeks and the players have adapted fantastically well. They will keep working and keep improving. You can see the happiness, the relief and the celebration of the goal – it was magical. To win in front of our supporters was testing and a bit stressful, but the relief on the players in there and hopefully we can keep it going. The atmosphere in there in the first half when it was 2-0 was back to how it was last season. The atmosphere was unbelievable. We need to keep it going and we have 2 home games to come. I am pleased to get this one under our belt as it hasn’t been a good spell at home.
"A few passes went astray. The free kick – I can’t really remember them having too much before that. That put everyone on the back foot mentally.
"Sam hasn’t trained for 2 days now. He had a fitness test at 6pm tonight. He didn’t train yesterday and he was in on Sunday as all the players were, but he played. He is a remarkable character. Very strong minded and doesn’t like missing games. No doubt he will be sore tomorrow, but fair play to him.
"When it was 2-0, it was good for my health.
"You could see how it affected our players – back at 2-2 when they had 10 men. All our players were watching, like me and the supporters they were thinking “crickey – where are we going to get an opening?” And then we saw some slack passing, and then we started to wonder if something was going to happen. The longer it went on, with the team with 10 men; you could see them nicking it. That may sound strange, but that’s how it looked to me. They were breaking and cutting out our passing and possession, you could see them nicking something. From nowhere that goal came. But our players seem to have a habit of keep coming like that. Fighting from being knocked down and being able to fight back. Our players are good at. I would love to see our players kill games. It was stressful the 2nd half, after the beauty of the first half an hour. I suppose you could say it was like the pantomime – beauty and the beast. First half was beautiful and the second half was like the beast. But then we had a happy ending.
"It was a good save – I don’t think he had too much to do before that. To be honest with you, he does that most weeks.
"We had a great chance when it was 2-0. It was a brilliant attack on the breakaway with real pace and real quality passing. It was a top class move and he tried to lift it over the keeper, but I thought it was a great save by the keeper. If it had gone 3-0, I think we would have seen a far more pleasant evening. But saying that we had a happy evening and 3 more points."
"The strike against Tranmere was in a similar position, over on the right hand side – another volley. It was just a tremendous goal from a tremendous player. Turner plays his part on set plays. Perhaps not with the finishing touch, but he plays his part in several of our recent goals. Tonight, no-one can deny that it was an absolute gem. There free kick was quality too, but I think that half volley was a moment of magic.
"Honestly, I thought our player knocked the ball wide. It was 1 v 1, but I thought our player had taken the touch wide of the goal and not towards the goal. I was expecting a yellow card. The referee is closer than me – he was the last man, but I think Dudley’s first touch was taking him to a wide position rather than the middle; perhaps it was a little bit harsh.
"All there players seem to step up another level. Their keeper made a brilliant save as well from one of our free kicks. We had more possession, but when we had it, it seemed like that we were giving it away too easily in the second half. We have been working for the last 4 or 5 weeks about being patient, keeping possession. That is what we have been doing and that is what we tried tonight, but there were some moments when our passing was a bit sloppy. In the first half hour the play was top class – and we will keep working and perservering. It has only been 4 or 5 weeks and the players have adapted fantastically well. They will keep working and keep improving. You can see the happiness, the relief and the celebration of the goal – it was magical. To win in front of our supporters was testing and a bit stressful, but the relief on the players in there and hopefully we can keep it going. The atmosphere in there in the first half when it was 2-0 was back to how it was last season. The atmosphere was unbelievable. We need to keep it going and we have 2 home games to come. I am pleased to get this one under our belt as it hasn’t been a good spell at home.
"A few passes went astray. The free kick – I can’t really remember them having too much before that. That put everyone on the back foot mentally.
"Sam hasn’t trained for 2 days now. He had a fitness test at 6pm tonight. He didn’t train yesterday and he was in on Sunday as all the players were, but he played. He is a remarkable character. Very strong minded and doesn’t like missing games. No doubt he will be sore tomorrow, but fair play to him.
"When it was 2-0, it was good for my health.
"You could see how it affected our players – back at 2-2 when they had 10 men. All our players were watching, like me and the supporters they were thinking “crickey – where are we going to get an opening?” And then we saw some slack passing, and then we started to wonder if something was going to happen. The longer it went on, with the team with 10 men; you could see them nicking it. That may sound strange, but that’s how it looked to me. They were breaking and cutting out our passing and possession, you could see them nicking something. From nowhere that goal came. But our players seem to have a habit of keep coming like that. Fighting from being knocked down and being able to fight back. Our players are good at. I would love to see our players kill games. It was stressful the 2nd half, after the beauty of the first half an hour. I suppose you could say it was like the pantomime – beauty and the beast. First half was beautiful and the second half was like the beast. But then we had a happy ending.
"It was a good save – I don’t think he had too much to do before that. To be honest with you, he does that most weeks.
"We had a great chance when it was 2-0. It was a brilliant attack on the breakaway with real pace and real quality passing. It was a top class move and he tried to lift it over the keeper, but I thought it was a great save by the keeper. If it had gone 3-0, I think we would have seen a far more pleasant evening. But saying that we had a happy evening and 3 more points."