Following the Blues' 2-0 win against Aldershot Town at Brunton Park, we spoke to defender Bevis Mugabi.
Speaking to CUTV, he said: “It means a lot, shows that I'm doing my job to the best of my ability and to be able to put in a performance that for us to get the victory was more important to be honest.
On the Brunton Park atmosphere, he said: “Definitely you can see the crowd getting behind us even though in the first half we wasn't really getting the final pass in their final third, we just had to stay patient, and the crowd pushed us on in the end.
On the clean sheet, he said: “It's very positive, it's a positive sign for us that we're staying concentrated for the whole 90 minutes, making sure we communicate, making sure we're all in the right positions to obviously get the clean sheet, so it's a very positive sign from us.
When asked if the defence had spoken about Aldershot’s goalscoring record in the build-up to the game, he said: “A little bit to be fair but I wouldn't say too much, I think we're more focused on what we need to do to get the victory and how we're going to perform to obviously get the three points that we need.”
“I feel like we felt comfortable in what we were doing and our approach and how to deal with their forward players, and obviously that's thanks to the staff as well by letting us know their strengths and weaknesses at the same time, so everything came to day one."
On the team growing in confidence as the season progresses: “Definitely, I think it's a thing of just building that momentum, and the guy from before the game said we need to get three and three at home, and that's what we've done."
When asked if he thought the Shots’ would be stronger on the day, he said: “I wouldn't say a tougher test, we knew what they were about and their fronts and their strengths and weaknesses, so just us dealing with that and ultimately getting the three points.
On his leadership qualities, he said: “I'd like to say that I'm one of the leaders in the team, but I feel like there's a lot of leaders within our changing room, within the players that are playing and the players that aren't playing, everyone's keeping their standards high.
“So, it's a lot of us that are leading the dressing room and making sure that we're ready to perform.”
The Blues went into the break level despite having multiple chances.
“I feel like we performed well in the first half, as I said before it was just the final pass that was just lacking a little bit, we just had to be a bit more patient to get that first goal but it didn't come in the first half so yeah just happy that we started the second half, we did well and pretty much scored within the first five minutes of the second half.”
He continued: “It's just the thing about just being patient with our play because we knew we'll be able to break them down at some point, and it was just lucky enough for us that we managed to do that early on in the second half.
Mugabi scored his first goal for the Blues in the second half to secure the points.
“It was a nice little finish to be fair, just saw Harvey (Macadam) kind of like cross it into the box, and I thought it's coming straight to me, and I need to get a good content on it to get it into the bottom right corner.
“It means a lot, a lot to be honest with you, just getting that first one in front of the crowd, home crowd as well and seeing the Ugandan flag on that side as well made it extra special to be honest.
On the Ugandan flag: “It was nice, it was nice, especially being at Wealdstone, that's where I'm actually from in London and obviously my family seeing it as well, which made them happy. It just brought a smile to my face and my family's face.”
When asked about the squad's mentality, he said: “It's strong, you can see even the players on the bench that came on for us have got a strong impact on us to see out games for us and make a good influence in how we play and to see out games.
“As I said, it was a team effort today, and it showed once again.
“Everyone included, Luke (Armstrong), Georgie (Kelly), who came on, David (Ajiboye), who came on, (Josh) Grant, who came on. I think all of us had a positive influence on the game.”
On the energy around Brunton Park, he said: “It's good, it's good, it's very positive. You can feel the energy from the crowd and how they want us to go forward and get goals and to perform well, so we've only got positive feelings towards it.
“It keeps us in a focused mindset that we're close to getting the goal, and the crowd can feel it as well, so it just keeps us pushing forward.
Looking ahead to a sold-out away end at Altrincham next weekend, he issued a message to the fans, saying: “It's going to be a good environment for us to play in, we're going to have good support, and all we can do is try our best to put on a good performance for them.
“Thank you for your support throughout this beginning part of the season, and we're ready to perform for you once again.
