After United's 1-0 victory on the road against Brackley Town, we spoke to striker Georgie Kelly.
Speaking to CUTV, he said: “Tough game, they were fairly solid, sat in kind of made it difficult, we moved it well I felt like after the first 10-15 minutes, we got going, got to grips with it a little bit, created a lot of chances first half, a lot of half chances I maybe could have had one or two, but now to get out of here with a win then was important.
“That was one of our better performances, I felt, first few games, I know we had the first five, the results were all right, but I felt like performances probably weren't where they needed to be, but tonight I actually felt like we were at it a little bit more.
“We were dominating, we had the most chances, I imagine a much better xG, so to get the win, then on top of that, that was important for us.”
Brackley proved to be a tough test, packing their defence when out of possession.
“They're not a bad side actually, they'll be all right this year, they're solid, they're well set up, they're well drilled at the back, I thought they stayed really narrow, made it difficult, but no, at half time we were calm.
“We felt like we had three or four good chances in the first half and one of them could have slipped in, and we knew that if once the first goal is massive in a game like this, if you had got it in the first half then the game could open up more and you could end up winning, like these games are all context dependent.
“If you score in the first half, you could win that game 3-0, and it could be much easier, or they could sneak one, and they could beat you 1-0, so the most important thing is just to get out of here with three points.”
On a couple of opportunities to score in the first half, he said: “No, never disappointed, you just do your best, and I never try and let your missing chances affect you because it can happen, as long as you're in the right areas. I'd be more disappointed if I wasn't getting on the end of chances.”
On his role in the squad, he explained: “It's important and my role can change depending on styles and opposition, as you said tonight, at times we were very dominant, and we were pinning them in so they didn't need to be hitting me as much straight away.
“Other days, when teams are pressing higher, my role can change again because you have to drop into certain areas, but overall, I thought we adapted well and deserved the win.”
Kelly played the full 90 minutes in the Blues' win at the Saints, adeptly leading the attack.
“I'm heavy, actually; it's been a stop-start since pre-season for me.
“I had a little issue with my heart, actually, which meant I missed a bit of pre-season and I was kind of in and out, so I probably needed that 90 minutes just for sharpness and fitness, so I'm getting there now.”
On Regan Linney’s match-winning strike, he said: “Great touch, Regan's (Linney) clinical like he's a goal scorer, brilliant by Jack (Ellis) as well, I think that was mentioned at halftime as well, that run if we did switch to Regan out wide, that run from in to out and for Jack to look for it, so great pass.
“Jack was brilliant tonight, I thought, but great goal”.
Jack Ellis has featured in midfield in the early part of the season and picked up an assist in the win at Brackley.
“He's a natural, Jack's gifted, very robust, the side of Jack's game that people don't really, obviously he's good with his feet and he's technical, but he's also very strong and wiry and a tackler and for example if I was coming up against Jack in training, I don't like it because he's strong, he always gets a foot in, he's nippy.
“He can do it all, and there's no hesitancy at all when Jack steps in there because he's very well controlled, and I thought he was very, very good tonight.
“When you're in the six in there, you have to, especially, we want to be controlling games and dominating, and if that's the case, your six needs to be the most important player, he needs to be your pivot and getting on everything and making his take and Jack's very good at it.”
On how he’s found playing with Regan Linney, he said: “Different, to be honest, Regan, he's more of a, again, he's like a striker playing out wide because when Regan gets it, my game is built around players around me, I'm not a creator, I'm not somebody who scores goals out of nothing.
“My game is built around watching other players and timing when they cross, when they like to cross or what they normally do, so it'll just be about me getting used to Regan and a lot of times it'll be me thinking Regan's going to cut inside, he's going to shoot here so I need to be trying to gamble on rebounds or things like that.
“I'll just have to adapt and see what Regan likes. Again, there's a couple of times me and Regan have already picked out a few different little types of crosses that I want and the first half, there was one Regan checked inside and put one to the back post.
“We've worked on that for the last two weeks, and we've been chatting about it for ages, and the centre half just flicks and gets a touch on it, it was on my foot.
“So them little things, I feel like with me the longer, the more games I play, I'll get to know players a little bit more, and hopefully we'll start to click even a little bit better.”
Kelly gave a message to the fans, he said: “They've been great, since I came to the club it's been incredible, even back when we were in League One, which was a long time ago now, I remember them travelling everywhere, travelling to Peterborough at the end of the season, we were already relegated, the crowds, the numbers, incredible support.
“As long as you have that, the club's going to be strong going into the future, as long as you have that real backbone of support, I feel like it'll mean the club's in a good place, that's such a key part of any club, and it's fantastic, we're blessed to have that.”
On the importance of the victory, he said: “They're vital, especially after a defeat, and as I said, especially after our start to the season, maybe people will think different, but I don't think we've been great, I don't think we've been motoring the way we should be.
“I know this is a difficult league, but we should be dominating, for example, if we had come out of here tonight with a draw, you have to assess it based on performance, and I felt like we were good tonight, and we were dominant, and the only team that was going to win would have been us.
“So, nuance is important in these games. We need to be dominating. We're a big club at this level, and we need to be massive.
“We’ll be favourites going into every game, so we need to be at it, and I felt like tonight we were, and you are right. You need to come out with the wins, and they make it even sweeter when you do, when you pick them up, then after playing well, rather than slipping a 1-0 in a scrappy game or beating someone, kind of when you haven't been at your best.
“So, it feels sweeter when you get three points when you perform.”
He continued: We have loads in us, even looking at our squad depth and the bench and the players we have, I still feel like we're still not fully kicking on in the 4th, 5th gear yet.
“Hopefully it'll come, tonight's definitely a step forward, I feel like we were much better tonight, much more controlled, but I do feel like there's another gear there.”
United host Truro City at Brunton Park on Saturday, looking for back-to-back wins.
“Massive, see it's all about momentum, like last year we've seen the opposite side of it in terms of the negative momentum, but if you can pick up wins like this and then go again and get a good result, say we play really well on Saturday, you pick on, and that builds and builds, and it's going to be vital for us.”
