Jason Kennedy on the Mansfield Town game
We spoke to midfielder Jason Kennedy shortly after full time on Saturday following the 5-2 victory over Mansfield Town.“I thought we deserved the victory,” he said. “The lads went out there and put another shift in, and we got the three points which is the main thing.
“I think we’ve shown the strength of character we have in the team. We were disappointed to concede form the set piece and it was my man who scored the goal, which was frustrating for me.
"We’ve come from behind in a few of the last games and it isn’t the ideal scenario, but it’s a case of doing what we’ve got to do to get the rewards in the end.
“We bounced back and got our rewards and I think it shows the mental strength and character we have within the dressing room. We don’t concentrate on the negatives and moan about them, we turn them into positives and come out and work hard."
On his goal, which took him to nine for the season so far, he said: “To have nine goals already is amazing for me. I’m happy to keep scoring and helping the team. I thought the lads were superb today.
“Trace [Simon Tracey] gives us areas to be in for set pieces on Friday’s. Thankfully I managed to get into my area this time and I was free, which made it a bit strange. I was thinking I was offside or something like that. It went in the back of the net which was the main thing.
“I’m getting into the areas I’m supposed to be getting in and I’m getting the rewards for that. I’m playing up front with Charlie [Wyke] as well so I’m trying to read where he’s going to put it and get on the end of things. Everything is going to plan at the moment and it’s working well.
“I think it was always going to be the case that Charlie would get ahead of me in the goalscoring charts. It was nice to be at the top while it lasted but Charlie is a striker and he’s obviously scored a hat-trick today.
"I’ll carry on hunting him down - he might have a little lapse in one or two games so I can catch up. He’s giving me a bit of stick now that he’s overtaken me but the Middlesbrough car school is flying high at the moment."
“For my yellow card I actually slipped," he explained. "I thought the lad was going to touch me but I slipped over. I was trying to get back on my feet as quick as possible but the ref thought it was a dive.
"I’ll just have to take it on the chin. Lee Dykes came over to me when the gaffer took me off and he did say that the yellow card was the reason. I was enjoying myself and I thought there were goal opportunities there, so I would have liked to stay on the pitch."
“Obviously we look at the results when we get back in the dressing room," he continued. "When we’ve done our job we look at how the other teams got on. It was great to come back in and find out the results had gone for us.
"I don’t think being at the top changes our mindset at all. We take every game on its merits. We don’t look at the table, we look at the opposition we’re up against and how we can get results. We’ll carry on doing that throughout the season regardless of where we are in the table.
“We’ve got our rewards for the hard work and commitment we’re putting in in training every day, and we’ve got to where we want to be and where we want to stay. It’s a great achievement from where we’ve been to where we are now."
Ahead of the FA Cup game against his former team on Saturday, he told us: “I had some great times at Rochdale and I’ve got some great memories from being there.
"We got promoted and it was a brilliant squad to be playing in, similar to the one we have here. It’s a game I’ll really enjoy if I’m selected next week. They’re always a good team so hopefully we can put in a good performance.
“The manager is still there and the young lads who are coming through there are very good players. They were coming through when I was there and they’re doing well in League One.
“We want to progress in the cup, but as I said earlier we take every game on its own merits because it will be a tough game. They like to play attractive football too so it will be a great game to watch for the fans, I imagine."
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