We spoke to defender Tom Parkes shortly after full time on Saturday following the hard-earned 1-0 victory against Bury at Gigg Lane.
“It was very good from the boys on Saturday,” he said. “We had to dig deep towards the end of the game, because they were getting a lot of crosses in, but we’re pleased to bounce back from Tranmere with a win and a clean sheet.
“I wouldn’t say you get a feeling that you aren’t going to concede, because they had some good chances. Their lad had a header and you’d probably say he should have scored, but fortunately he didn’t.
"It’s good for us because we kept the clean sheet, and we want to build on that and get more clean sheets, because it gives us a great opportunity to win games.
“We’ve got a lot of experience in the defence now, and we’ve got Macca [Macaulay Gillesphey] who has come in at left-back and been fantastic."
“We knew what Bury were all about," he continued. "We know Nicky [Adams] and what he can do if the ball gets out to him. He can put dangerous crosses into the box. They’ve got a lot of good players who are technically good, but I think we dealt with them well.
“We knew that the crosses would be dangerous but we made sure our positioning was right throughout the match so we could get the first touch on the ball. Bury are one of the fancied teams in this league, so it’s a massive win for us.
“We felt quite comfortable at half time but the gaffer said he wanted more from us and we did that in the second half. The set piece was something we’d worked on, and it was great to see Richie [Bennett] get his goal which turned out to be the winner."
“It was a great turn out from the fans today," he commented. "I didn’t realise we’d bring so many down here. It was good to get the goal in front of them and send them home happy with three points.
“It was important for us to bounce back after the Tranmere game because we were very disappointed to lose that one. I thought we played really good football but it just didn’t happen for us in the game and we lost.
"I think the Bury game shows you the character we’ve got in the dressing room, we had to dig in and we’ve put in a good performance as well. It’s obviously still early days but you want to be in and around the top seven of the table, whatever stage of the season it is.
"If you can stay in that top seven then it can only be good for the whole club. We dropped down the table after Tranmere, so for us to bounce back is pleasing for the lads and the fans."
One of the talking points from the afternoon was the late sending off for midfielder Jerry Yates, which saw the Blues reduced to ten men for the final ten minutes of the afternoon.
“I didn’t see what happened with Jerry’s red card," he said. "It was a bit crazy at the time, but we saw the game through.
"It’s always difficult when a man gets sent off but we threw our bodies on the line and made sure we didn’t concede. We’ve got a strong squad and there will be players on the bench who will look to come into the side when he’s missing, and I'm sure they'll want to try and take that position."
And on his own form, he told us: “I’m enjoying my football at the moment. I’m enjoying playing alongside Ant [Gerrard], he’s an experienced player and I’m learning from him in every game.
"It’s good to have Macca on the other side of me, because he’s still young and hopefully I can try and help him as well. I’ve played next to Ant for a few games now and I think you can see the partnership starting to develop.
"It happens all the time in football, new players come into the team and it’s important to get used to playing with them as quickly as you can. I’m enjoying playing with him, and we just need to keep working on trying to get as many clean sheets as we can, which will hopefully mean we win games.”
“We’ve got another home game on Saturday coming up," he concluded. "We’ll make sure we work hard through the week to put in another good performance and, like I say, hopefully that means we'll get another three points."
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