WE WANT TO REPAY THE FANS
Stand in team captain Chris Lumsdon spoke to us shortly after full time on Saturday to give us his opinion on the game.
He said: "The crowd were superb today, and that gave us a real lift, but it was a typical end of season match. Both teams were going at it, even though there wasn't much in the way of quality out there. There was plenty of hustle and bustle, and there were a lot of nerves around, but we came through all that and got a point. That's stopped the rot, so it hasn't all been doom and gloom, and it sets us up for the two massive games that are ahead of us. We're looking forward to it already."
"We're disappointed again with how we played in the first half," he told us. "I don't know why it is that we have been starting slowly recently, because we are all ready and up for it ahead of kick off. It's frustrating when you can't put your finger on it, because we know that we can play much better. We had a chat about it at half time and that seemed to work, because we got ourselves going after the break."
"We wanted to get ahead," he admitted, "because we felt that would calm the nerves. Scott (Dobie) was on hand to put that one away, and we really needed that, but I honestly thought that he'd been pushed out of the way in the first half in a very similar situation. The Ref didn't give it though, so there's not much you can do. He put us in front with his goal eventually, and I thought we would kick on from there. Unfortunately we gave away a sloppy goal and we let them back in to it."
"The decision he made to pull Scott Dobie back was a bit strange," he told us. "Scott was clean through, so I asked him what he was thinking when he blew the whistle. He told me that he'd seen a punch, but I knew that wasn't the case at all. I pointed out that we were through on goal and he then told me that he had to show the lad a yellow card. I just think he could have done that after the move had finished."
"I suppose you can say that other results mean that ours didn't matter that much anyway," he conceded, "but we desperately wanted to give the fans a win. You have to remember as well that if the other teams had lost, or dropped points, and we'd only managed this draw, then we would all have been absolutely heartbroken. That's the main reason why we wanted the three points."
"We were hearing different things from the crowd," he said, "so it was difficult to keep up with what was going on elsewhere. We took the decision to ignore all that and just go for it. We wanted to end the season on a high, and hope that other results would go our way, but it didn't quite work out like that. There are plenty of other teams who would like to be in the play-offs right now, though, so we have to remember that and make sure that we give it everything we have."
"Like I say," he added, "we now have two huge games. There will be massive crowds at both grounds, and you can't help but look forward to it. These are the types of games that you want, where there is a huge prize at stake. The season is effectively done and dusted, and we now find ourselves in a knockout competition. The previous 46 games have got us involved in this, and it's now down to who handles these next two games the better. You never know what can happen, as we all know it can come down to a decision or a moment of pure luck, but we'll be out there making sure that we make a bit of our own luck as well."
On the changes made by the gaffer ahead of the game, he said: "I think Darren Campion can be really proud of himself. He handled himself really well, and I don't remember him doing much wrong. For me, it was a bit of a surprise to get the captain's job, but it was a very proud moment. I was delighted and jumped at the chance to do it. The only thing I would change from it is the result."
"I'd like to say a huge thanks to the fans," he concluded. "The way they reacted to us when they stayed behind at the end was out of this world. If we thought that they were going to be disappointed with us for not taking the automatic place then they showed us that they were prepared to support us anyway, and that has given us a massive lift. All the talk in the dressing room was about the fans and how they had applauded us, and we just want to repay that now. Hopefully we will, because they definitely deserve it. It's been a unbelievable season, with what we've achieved, but it's what we aimed for. We set the standards high after finishing 8th last season, and we demanded more from ourselves. We've done well, and it's a great time to be at the club, but we don't want to settle for just the play-offs. Roll on these next two games is all I'll say!"














