Danny Grainger on penalties and two huge games to come
United captain Danny Grainger stared nerves in the face and twice smashed them into the back of the net on Saturday as he took his goal tally to nine for the campaign with two well executed spot kicks.We spoke to him shortly after full time to get his reaction to what was a massive victory.
“We’re obviously absolutely buzzing at the moment,” he said. “The dressing room is electric but we know we’ve still got another job to do to make sure we finish it off.
“I think Exeter showed a lot of respect to us and they obviously played a full strength team. I don’t think they rested any players so they know what we’re about now.
“We know the next two games will be tough against them but we’re confident we can get the job done. No one is going to hand us three points and a trip to Wembley so we know we’re going to have to work even harder to get there now.”
On having to come from behind in both halves to eventually get the victory, he said: “We’ve had to show a lot of character again today but it’s the way we do it isn’t it! We never make it easy for ourselves but that’s what the lads are about.
“We dig in and a lot of teams would have rolled over today, or even after the run we’d been on. We don’t because we know we’ve got something in that dressing room and we know we’re good players.”
On the penalties which left the Exeter with absolutely no chance, he said: “I’ve said from day one that I’m confident on penalties, I always have been. I was delighted to see both of them hit the back of the net.
“With the first one I just wanted to make sure it beat him. I’ve been going to the keeper’s left or down the middle all season so I thought he would either stand up or go to his left. I thought I would change it up this time and I was delighted to see it hit the back of the net.”
“The dressing room is absolutely buzzing,” he confirmed. “We know we’ve let ourselves down since Christmas but today shows what we’re about. The journey up the road will be bouncing but we know there’s still a job to do.
“We’ve got a bit of momentum going into the play-offs. We’re five unbeaten and we’ve done the double over Exeter, which will be in the back of their minds. We know no one is going to hand us a trip to Wembley and we need to work hard.”
With three games between the club and promotion, he said: “Everyone is in the same boat now because all four teams want that trip to Wembley. Everyone will have the same nerves and the team who performs best will come on top.
“I’m just delighted that we’ve done it. I’m extremely proud. My mam and dad made the journey down so to see them smiling away in the stand was great. The rest of my family are listening back at home and it does mean a lot to me. I couldn’t be prouder.”
And looking ahead to next Sunday, he told us: “We want to get as many fans into Brunton Park as we can next Sunday and make sure the place is bouncing.
“We need the fans to help push us over this line. They’ve done it for us all season and it would be superb to see our ground full and to hear them all cheering us on.”
United PlayerHD subscribers can see an interview with Danny Grainger now. Click HERE to go to the PlayerHD platform. Follow the same link for more information on United PlayerHD, and to subscribe.
