Nicky Adams on Morecambe, Accrington and assists
We spoke to midfielder Nicky Adams ahead of the Monday morning training session to get his thoughts on the home draw with Morecambe at Brunton Park on Saturday.“It was one of those games,” he said. “On another day we could have won 3-1 or 4-1 but, fair play to their keeper, he made some unbelievable saves.
"For example, when I crossed it in and I saw JK [Jason Kennedy] getting up to head it, I thought it was a goal. It was a great save from him, then when it came to Charlie [Wyke] I actually put my arms in the air, so I don’t know how he saved it. Sometimes that happens."
“We’ll take the positives from it," he continued. "It was a good reaction from ourselves after we’d made a bad start to the game. It was maybe a bit nervy from us, but after the first ten minutes we grew into the game and played like we were playing before we had the little blip. We created lots of chances and played some good football again.
“It was important to get something from the game after the previous two results. During a season you’re going to have a sticky patch, we’ve had a couple of losses and we were all disappointed because we’d been on such a good run.
"We’ve not been down because we know things like this are going to happen. We’re going to lose games, but it was important to bounce back. We obviously wanted to bounce back with a win, but I think overall the performance was very good."
“You’ve got to say fair play to Morecambe," he commented. "They’re always a difficult team to beat. They’ve got a good togetherness and some decent players. They’ve been on a good run so it’s good for us to get another point on the board and hopefully that will kick us on again.
"The gaffer always tells us to go and play and be positive, which gives you confidence. It’s a good race now, the table is quite close and every team will have a sticky patch. It’s important we get through ours, which I think we've done now, and we kick on in the next few games.
“I think all the top teams have a blip. You just have to look at Man City yesterday. That result doesn’t make them a bad team because every team in the world goes through it. We’ve got a good set of boys in that dressing room so we’ll get through it."
“I think if you look at the two recent defeats - we didn’t dwell on them, but we have analysed them," he told us. "We beat ourselves more than anything. We looked at the Colchester game and we were 2-1 down at half time, but we were much the better side. Obviously JK had the goal disallowed, which could have changed the game, and he wasn’t offside.
“I think we shot ourselves in the foot in the Grimsby game. We were in total control but we had a mad 20 minutes and lost the game. We aren’t dwelling on it and I think you could see on Saturday we had a real reaction.
"A lot of teams would have gone 1-0 down early on at home after two defeats and possibly lost the game. We’ve got enough good characters and good players in the dressing room to make sure that won’t happen to us."
On the fantastic support from the fans, he said: “I think the fans realise what we’re trying to do and it was great to see them clap us off at half time on Saturday.
"We’re having a great season and the fans have been a massive part of it. They get behind us, home and away, and they were brilliant again on Saturday. Even when things weren’t coming off they were getting behind us.
"When we got the goal their reaction was great because they knew we’d keep pressing and I thought there was only one team going to win it."
Looking at the first half of the season overall, he said: “To be third after 26 games isn’t bad at all. There are some big teams up there and we’re one of them. We’re right in it, so it’s exciting. I was part of this last year and these next couple of months are going to go so fast.
"We have some big games coming up and I’m really looking forward to it. We’ve still got to play Portsmouth, Doncaster and Luton at home and they’re games the fans can look forward to as well."
Ahead of the trip to Accrington, which will see another massive following from the Blue Army, he said: “I was talking about the Accrington game with the lads earlier because I know our fans travel well.
"They've been brilliant and it will be great to have our lot behind that goal. I’ve had it when I was at Bury, with it being a local derby, so I know what it’s like to have your fans in there, especially when you’re attacking that goal.
"Hopefully they can be that twelfth man that we’ll need on Saturday so we can go there and get another positive result."
On getting his fifteenth assist of the season for Charlie Wyke's goal against Morecambe, he said: “I think everyone knows what I’m about. I like to create chances and set goals up for the strikers. I pride myself on it and I have for the past few years - I just try to improve as much as I can.
"I think I got 13 assists at Bury when we went up, and it was 17 last year. I think I’ve got 15 in the league this season so far, so hopefully I can keep it going. I just want to keep improving and doing my best for the team.
“The one disappointment for me is that I haven’t scored enough goals. It's frustrating but I don’t get down about it because I know I create chances for my team. If I can chip in with a few goals I’ll be happy."
When asked where this uncanny knack of being able to pick out his team mates inside the box came from, he explained: “I’ve always worked on using both of my feet, ever since I was a young kid. My dad’s a leftie, my daughter’s a leftie and my brother is left handed, but I’m right footed.
"It’s just one of those things. When I was a young lad at Man United they used to make us take our left shin pad off and use our left foot. I'll always be grateful to them for that because it got me using my weaker foot with confidence.
"It’s one of those things I pride myself on. I always look at the top players and they can all use both feet ... apart from Messi, he’s got one foot but it’s the best foot you’ve ever seen in your life, so it doesn’t really matter!
“I’m always practising and always learning because I just want to keep improving. I do little things with the gaffer on the training pitch, like shooting drills and things like that. You never stop learning and using both feet is an attribute I’ve got. I’ll keep working on it and hopefully keep confusing defenders so they don’t know where I’m going!"
Having already been 'treated' to the Pong Dance, we wondered what was lined up for when he next finds the back of the net.
“I’m not sure what my celebration will be," he admitted. "I think it will just be a sigh of relief. Sometimes I think to myself ‘be greedy, shoot!’
"I spoke to Dykesy [Lee Dykes] after the Notts County game because there was one where I went through and I put it across the box because I wanted Charlie to score. I should have shot myself.
"I’ve had a few cleared off the line, or the keeper has saved it, but like I say it doesn’t get me down because the first thing I think about is creating chances for my team. If I can keep doing that I’ll be more than happy."
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