Manager ahead of the Brentford game
Manager Greg Abbott spoke to us on Friday morning about the weekend visit of Brentford.
“It’s one for us to look forward to because the performances since the Walsall defeat have been closer to what we have asked for,” he said. “We asked for a response to what was a poor display in our last home game and, to be fair to the lads, they have given us that.
“We’ve been a bit unlucky with the fact we haven’t taken more points but, if we keep playing this way, that will come. It’s really important for us to build on what we’ve done and to get things right in front of our own fans on Saturday.
“The supporters have been absolutely fantastic for us and we can’t thank them enough for that. Their grumbles against Walsall were fully justified and we felt exactly the same frustrations. We thought we’d got rid of that type of game with the way the run was going here at Brunton Park, but we shot ourselves in the foot again. The job now is to show the fans that we are a good side and to get the belief in what we’re doing back again.”
“Brentford will obviously be looking for a reaction to their result on Tuesday night,” he told us. “They are in a really good position to push for automatic promotion but things are very tight across the different areas of the division and we are at a stage of the season when it is all about points.
“Uwe [Rosler] has assembled a very good squad and they are where they are through merit. They’ve had that consistency in results, which is important if you want to achieve anything in League One, but we know we can match any team when we are on our game.
“The lads have had a tough week with the away games but that’s part and parcel of it all. It was very much a case of getting back together on Thursday and we had an excellent session to help us to blow the cobwebs off. A Tuesday night trip like that is never going to be easy but we try to look after everyone as much as possible to make sure they are fully recovered and ready to go.”
“We know the threats Brentford will pose but we know we can cause a few problems of our own,” he added. “We want to put on a performance for our fans because we’ll be off on our travels for the two games which follow, and we want to head into another busy week in a confident mood.”
“The fans are hugely important to what we are trying to achieve,” he said. “The board have spoken in depth about the financial side of things recently, so that speaks for itself. The more people who watch us, the stronger the hand we will have to play with.
“The other side of it is that it makes a huge difference when there is a loud and vocal crowd supporting their team. It really does give the players a lift and our supporters have an excellent reputation for that. I’ve said it before, but if we can stick together, even when times are a little bit tougher than we would like them to be, then we will be able to push on together.
“We know that our side of the bargain is to make the tackles, create the chances and play at the tempo which will get everyone going. Hopefully the lads will go out and do that and we can all enjoy what should be a very good game.”
