MANAGER: They'll try to quieten the crowd

“It’ll be a difficult game and there’ll be expectancy there for us,” he said. “We’ve gone away and got a draw and a victory, and our fans will look at the recent results Morecambe have had. They’ll expect us to roll them over and roll on to the next game.

“It just doesn’t happen like that. Technically and tactically we have got to be right. We’ll give the players as much information as we can and we will look to exploit the weaknesses we think they have. First and foremost we have to deal with the attacking threat they bring. 

“I have an idea of how I think they’re going to play and it won’t be gung ho. It won’t be all guns blazing and they will try to do what we did to Northampton. They’ll try to quieten the crowd and make it a dull encounter. They’ll look to make our supporters feel tentative and nervous and they’ll try to pull us out of shape.” 

“Yes, we will want to attack at every opportunity, but we have to have one eye on the back door to make sure we don’t get caught with a sucker punch,” he added. “One of the things we’ll work on before the game is countering the counter attack. 

“We do always look to win our home games, but that’s the same for every game we play. It’s so much easier doing press conferences off the back of a win. I should have put that into my contract – only do the press after a victory. If we lose I’m not available!

“Joking aside, win or lose, I will always face the press. I enjoy doing it. Obviously there are times, when things don’t go our way, it feels like the last thing I need. However, I always do it because it’s an opportunity for me talk about why things have happened and how we can move forward.” 

On where the team is following the last two results, he said: “Ever since I came into the club we have never really started sprinting. It’s been slow, gradual baby steps but we are going forward. Sometimes when you take slow steps it’s easier for people to get on board with you. 

“Part of what we’re trying to achieve is to get the supporters to want to come here, and to come expecting us to win. We know we need to play entertaining, free-flowing and attractive football and that will get the crowd behind us and backing us. 

“The supporters want us to do well. Sometimes we’ve let them down and we haven’t got them the results they deserved or required. We have an opportunity to get three points at home on Saturday and that’s something we really want to do.”

“A lot of teams who face different circumstances in this division enjoy playing away from home at the moment,” he told us. “There is less pressure and focus on how they will perform. 

“One of the things we are trying to ramp up now in the dressing room is how much responsibility we have to produce good things for our fans. We aren’t going to back away from that because we know they’ll be behind us if we give them what they want. We will be mindful of the threats the other teams can pose but we want to be on the front foot and we want to win the game. 

“I still have a mindset that someone is going to get turned over by three or four goals between now and the end of the season. Who, where, when – I don’t know … but it’s coming.”

And on the last time this weekend’s teams met, he said: “There are positives we can take from the Boxing Day game because it was a good away performance. 

“However, I know we rode our luck on occasions and we needed some fantastic goal line clearances. We didn’t open them up as much as we would have liked and I can still remember the ball trickling over the line from David Amoo’s rasping seven yard shot. If it had been a windy day I don’t think it’d have gone in!

“They did cause us problems and it was by no means a resounding victory. I’d take the same again on Saturday because I have no doubt there will be twists and turns within the game.”