Midfielder Antony Sweeney on his match winning goal at Orient
Midfielder Antony Sweeney spoke to us about his first goal of the season - an impressive volley which turned out to be the winner in a thrilling encounter against Leyton Orient at Brisbane Road on Tuesday night.
The strike, a perfectly executed scissor kick, left keeper Alex Cisak with no chance as it flew past his dive to bring the 284 strong Blue Army to their feet as they celebrated the hard-earned away victory.
“I think it was a case of shutting my eyes and hoping for the best!” he joked. “To be fair, I should have scored from the first one as the cross came in. I didn’t quite catch that one but fortunately it sat up nicely and I got a second bite.
“I don’t think I’ll score too many of them. It’s usually the kind of shot which comes off your shin and ends up in the crowd. It was actually something we’d worked on during the week when we had a crossing and finishing session and the gaffer kept telling us that he wanted the ball to be whizzed in.
“More importantly he wanted Jason [Kennedy] and me to be getting into the box. It went past Jase and ended up at me, so I think the gaffer might take a bit of credit for it.”
“I’m delighted for everyone about the result because the lads at the back defended through some periods of real pressure,” he commented. “Orient will be up there come the end of the season so it’s a huge three points for us. We had a game plan and we’ve all worked hard to make it happen.
“It’s a game where every one of us has had to cover the ground and work for each other. It came together really well and the quality of the first goal, with the pass from Gary [Dicker] and the finish from Derek [Asamoah], shows what we’re about.”
“It was a very good away performance but there’s still stuff to work on,” he insisted. “We still want that clean sheet and that’s becoming a big thing for us. There are plenty of goals in this side so we know clean sheets will guarantee us three points."
“We’re obviously very pleased to be coming away from a place like this with three points, but there’s a tinge of disappointment as well,” he admitted. “If you think about the last two games you can also look at what could have been if we’d got the results.
“We should have seen York out, and got more than the draw, and we definitely didn’t do ourselves justice against Newport. That’s why we look at the league table with that little bit of disappointment, because it should be even better.”
“There’s another tough game coming up against Stevenage now,” he concluded. “We’ll enjoy this result but these games come thick and fast. We have to make sure we’re up for it and ready to go again so we can keep picking up the points and get the club to where we want it to be.”
