CONCENTRATE ON TUESDAY
Eric Kinder spoke to us about the 5-2 victory over Chesterfield:
"I suppose when you look at the result - 5-2 in a cup game, 3-0 up at half time, then you have to say the roll continues, and it's one heck of a roll at the minute, it has to be said.
Having said that, and I don't know whether I'm right or wrong, because I've gone in the dressing room and asked the lads whether I'm asking too much of them, but I didn't think we were particularly good. I thought our play was a bit indecisive, our passing was a little indifferent, we didn't defend well, but I am wondering whether I'm asking too much. Mind you, they've all agreed with me, and if we can win a game 5-2 and make three substitutions just for the sake of protecting people for Tuesday night, then it's a fantastic sign. We've hit the post twice, had one off the line, and had lots of other chances too, so we have to be happy overall.
Saying that I thought Alex Mitchell was absolutely outstanding in the first half. He made three absolutely fantastic saves which allowed us to go in with a good 3-0 lead at half time.
We got off to a good start, and I'd actually asked for a fast start because I'd checked Chesterfield's results of late, and they'd not been great, so I thought that if we could get the early lead then they might crumble.
As I say, Alex has made some really top drawer saves, but we got that early goal. Ged got round the back and slipped it across to Andy Cook, who bundled it over the line. That was only five minutes in so that gave us our start, but we still looked a little shaky at the back.
We were missing Dan Wordsworth as well though, and he's been fantastic for us so far this season, so that was a miss. It meant that Browny had to shuffle across to left back, which isn't his favourite position. Matt and Tom played centre-half, but they've done that well for the reserves, so that shouldn't be a problem, and Jonny Blake has had to leave his usual midfield position to play right back.
I think he took a bit of an early knock and didn't quite look his usual self, but then we got another through Woody. His strength is running on to through balls and, to be fair to him, he's made a great third man run and struck it across the goalkeeper, and I thought it was a great goal.
I have to say I do sometimes worry about the two midfield players in Woody and Steve Hindmarch. They are very good going forward, but they're both forward minded players, so it can leave us a bit exposed at the back, especially when we haven't had the back four as it's been over the last couple of weeks.
We got away with it and got a third before half time. We had another fantastic delivery from Connor off a corner, and Woody got a header on it. It got a deflection, but Woody's claiming it and their defender won't want it, so we'll give him that one. That's two goals for him on his come-back, he's been out for quite a while and we were in the fortunate position of being able to get him off and get him a rest in the second half, because we're a bit thin on the ground at the moment.
We've gone in 3-0 up and we started the second half under the cosh a bit - which you would expect. They were probably aggrieved to be 3-0 down and, to be honest, I'd probably have some sympathy with that, but then we got a break. Cooky put in Ged and he had a go. The keeper made a good save, but he got to the rebound and smuggled it in. At 4-0 I decided it was time to make a few substitutions.
It was an opportunity for me to get Laquan Biney in to the mix. He's a young lad who has just been released by Manchester City and he plays for our under 16's, but I promoted him today and he got 25 minutes in defence.
He's now a signed under 16 at the club, but I actually knew him two years ago when I was at Blackburn. Blackburn released him and he went to Manchester City, and then I got a phone call from his parents to say he'd been released by City as well. I wanted to find out why he'd been released and I found out that they'd gone and signed two foreign international players in his place, Alec Gibson, who is the youth team coach at Man City and who I hold in very high regard, said that they would have taken him on, but obviously these two foreign lads have come in and perhaps that's the way it's going at the big clubs. However, I think he'll do alright for us. I'll have to have a chat with his parents and just watch how he does for our under 16's, but I just felt today was a great opportunity to bring him in.
For a young boy of 15 years, to come away from Manchester and step in I thought he equipped himself very well. I was pleased with him, so we'll monitor that in the coming months and see where it goes.
We also managed to get John Seaton and Michael Dowson on, which was very beneficial. Unfortunately we then let them back in the game and it went to 4-2, so we might have given ourselves a nervous last twenty minutes, but ironically I thought we looked better once it had gone 4-2, and showed better discipline than at any other point in the game - so that's football for you.
We rounded it off in injury time because we got the goal of the game. Cooky, who let's be honest you'd not class as a Ronaldinho, has gone on a Ronaldinho run. We were all laughing saying, cross it, kick it, what are you doing, put it out of play, but he's gone past three or four people, waltzed past the goalkeeper with a step-over and rolled it in to the corner of the net.
I looked at the bench and we didn't know whether to laugh or just stand there with our mouths open, but it was a great way to end the game. To be fair to Andy he's a bit of a battering ram as a centre forward, but boy is he effective for us. What we've seen in that goal is that he's got some skill too, and it was an absolutely fabulous way to finish off a good day for us.
We're in to the quarter-finals now, we can put this competition to bed until March and go back to focusing on the FA Youth Cup on Tuesday, with everybody fit and fine, although obviously we'll miss Dan again because he's still suspended."














