Greg Abbott on an away day victory
We spoke to United manager Greg Abbott at the post-match press conference inside the Ricoh Arena.
He said: “This has been a really special day for me and a really good day for the lads.
“Both teams needed a win for their own reasons and I think we wanted to build on the two draws we picked up at home.
“This was a day when we were going to have to put everything that was happening to Coventry out of our minds, and I thought we did that. They are a big, big club and they were desperate to get off to a good start with their new manager.
“We had to ignore that and get on with our job, and we’ve battled for everything, done the hard work and also played some good football as well.
“We wanted to start with Joe Garner because we know he can upset people. He has made it hard for their central defenders and he has worked well off Danny Cadamarteri. I thought the two of them did an excellent job for us and we have some real options up front now.
“Joe won us the penalty and we didn’t have the best of views, but it looked a soft one. The people in the press box are saying they called it right away and our fans certainly shouted out, so we’ll have it. Your most confident player should always take it and I think there were a few of them out there who wanted to have a pop, so that’s encouraging as well.
“We started the second half really well and we deserved to go in front. The big man [Danny Livesey] has taken a telling off for the McGoldrick goal at half time but he has defended well and popped up with yet another goal. He’s in getting stitches with the doctor at the moment so he’s one of those you know will go to war if he has to.
“We’ve got ourselves into a really good position now and we have to make sure we keep working hard to keep it going. With Joe [Garner] and Kallum [Higginbotham] coming on board we have added depth to what we think is a decent squad.
“The next one is that little matter of Wednesday night. I think everyone is looking forward to that and we’ll start to prepare for it in earnest on Monday morning. Nearly 1,000 fans have come and enjoyed themselves today and hopefully we’ll have near a full house doing the same when Tottenham come to our place. I’ve said it before, a full Brunton Park cheering on their team makes it a test for any team and we certainly don’t want to just turn up and give it to them. We want to see the same levels of determination and honesty and if we get them then we might just give Spurs a few scares along the way.
“I think I need to say thank you to everybody connected with Coventry City for the way they have been with us today. It’s been special for me on a personal level because a lot of my family are here and there are people I haven’t seen for over twenty years. I love coming here, it’s my home town, and the people here couldn’t have treated us any better.
“The win has to be for those noisy people behind the goal. They were magnificent and if they can stick with us, and continue being patient, we might just have a few more smiles along the way.”
