Midfielder Jack Bridge picked up the InvestAcc man-of-the-match performance for his all-action display against Forest Green on Tuesday and we spoke to him about what had been a tight contest after he’d been up to Foxy’s to receive his trophy on the night.
“It was a tough game between two sides who wanted to play good football,” he said. “I think it was a good game for League Two, they kept the ball for long spells but we were patient and we did well when we got it as well.
“The mood in the dressing room is a bit of everything now. We’re happy with the clean sheet, and we did play well, but there’s a massive bit of frustration because it’s a game we feel we should be winning, especially after they went down to ten men. We maybe could have done a bit more and taken the chances we had to try and get the three points.”
“It did feel like all the free kick decisions were going in their favour,” he added. “It seemed like they were getting fouls that we weren’t getting two seconds earlier, but I felt we dealt with it well and kept doing what we wanted to.
“For the foul on Nath [Thomas] I thought he’d actually given us the penalty and I was getting ready to take it. I didn’t see the actual incident but the lads thought it was a penalty and I really thought he’d given it before he pointed the other way.”
With Forest Green happy to sit on the ball in possession in the middle areas of the pitch, he commented: “It was a nice change to go up against a team who plays football the way they do. League Two has a reputation but that was a game where both teams really tried to play football.
“It was end-to-end early on but once they started to get a bit of possession it was then just a case of us staying patient. It can be frustrating for us, the fans, everyone when the game goes like that, but they didn’t hurt us from it. What you have to do is bide your time and try to have an effect on them when you do get the ball.
“I thought we were the team who looked like we were going to get the win at the end of the game and it’s just a shame that we didn’t. That’s the really frustrating part, maybe the luck just didn’t go our way, but it was important not to lose as well because we want to keep the good run going.”
On his award from the night, he said: “I’m loving it here, I love getting on the ball and the way we’re trying to play. It’s always nice to get man-of-the-match and in a game like that I was able to get on the ball a lot. I just want to try and get on it as much as I can and make things happen, and I managed to do that quite a lot, which was good.
“We all have our defensive duties but the gaffer just wants me to get on the ball as much as I can and try and get us up the pitch and get us playing. I want to create chances for others as well. We had a few chances in the game and I thought the one that the keeper clawed away might have snuck in, but it just wasn’t to be.”
And with a second league shut-out under the belt he spoke about the confidence the team can take from that part of the game.
“I think the clean sheet is massive for us,” he confirmed. “It’s a big positive and I think we defended really well throughout the game. We need to take that forward and build on it.
“We’ve got a decent little run going at the minute, I think we’ve only lost once in the last five, so we just need to keep that going because we want to build some momentum.
“I think we’re showing how we want to play football and we just want to keep doing that as much as we can. We’ve won our last two away games so we’ll be looking to make that three-in-a-row when we go to Bradford.
“This is a new team with a lot of new players but I feel like we’re getting better each week. We’ve had a few downs here and there, but things are really positive at the moment because it’s starting to come together. We still have some way to go but the good thing is that we’re getting there.
“We’re on a little run away from home so that means we go into Saturday with confidence. I’ve played at Bradford in the past and it’s a nice stadium. They’re a big club so it’ll be a decent atmosphere, because we always take big numbers, and we’re going there thinking that we can win the game.”
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