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00:00Conor Callum, a dramatic 2-1 win against Pagom after playing the second half with 10 men.
00:06You must be delighted with the character from your side there today?
00:09Yeah, unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable. Two men, really stepped up. When you look
00:17at a team and you want them to resemble what you stand for and what you are as a person,
00:24that was exactly that today. Not a single one of them can be faulted for absolutely
00:28anything that they did in the second half. The two boys up top, whether it was Bob and
00:34Cable or Asad and Cable, they ran so hard. The midfield three were just absolute monsters.
00:39The three of them covered so much ground and when they got the ball, used it so well. The
00:44back four to defend the direct play, as well as they did for the entire second half, just
00:50absolutely superb. I thought we had a better team with 10 men than they had 11. That's
00:54not the first time we've done that this season. I think the boys have got the belief that
00:58no matter what, we can be in adverse situations but still come out on top. Just buzzing.
01:03I thought Pagam actually looked more of a threat in the first half than they did in
01:06the second half. In the second half, when you were down to 10, it could change the complexion
01:11of the game. It is that adversity and challenge and you completely rose to it, didn't you?
01:16Yeah, I think it's one of those things that you can look at and you can go, well, we've
01:19been maybe a little bit unlucky with the red card, we felt like, but it was a case of,
01:23can you turn our head and that's a challenge to step up and be counted. I thought that
01:27concept of a man, that direction, you can't ask for anything more. We're delighted with
01:33just their endeavour and their hard work. It wasn't the prettiest game of football,
01:36but we knew it wasn't going to be like that anyway, with obviously having a numerical
01:39disadvantage. Football's about hard work. Football's about digging in and counting for
01:45each other. It's a team game and to a man today, you don't win games like that if you're
01:49not a team and we're delighted with our team and the Jesuit Masters after that. We slightly
01:53changed formation at half-time as well. Sometimes when teams are a little bit direct, you don't
01:56stop it at the source, then you can obviously find yourself getting back and back from the
02:01second half because we put two up top. It didn't enable them to get a lot of quality
02:04up the pitch, which then meant that we could sustain pressure higher up when we did regain
02:10it. Obviously, the first half, Cable was up there on his own, a bit isolated and then
02:13when we did regain, we were so deep and Cable was then having to try and factor something
02:18impossible, to be honest. So, it did help having an extra man at the top of the pitch.
02:22What were the thoughts on the first half? You took the lead through Cowles' penalty
02:26and then they get the penalty for the handball. I presume you've got a half-time message in
02:31mind and then there's a bit of a controversial red card with Will, which you can sense the
02:38injustice. What were the thoughts on that first half and how do you get that message
02:43across of the second half?
02:45We felt like the game was really, really transitional in the first half. There was so much space.
02:52They were really direct. They were near enough playing with a front six at times. Both their
02:56full-backs were going, pushing both their wingers inside and it was forcing our wingers
03:01to come back. It felt like it wasn't too much of a problem when they had the ball.
03:06The issue was when we then countered and then they were countering our counter. There was
03:12just too much room and it just meant that we didn't really have any structured shape
03:17just because of it. We didn't keep the passes when we regained well enough, but also there
03:23was so much space to attack in. It just probably felt like we needed to, in those moments,
03:28get ourselves up as a team and get a little bit more structure so we could stop the transition
03:33so much. We probably felt like it didn't favour us in this game.
03:39Then just a few defensive tweaks on what we were going to do with our wingers. That was
03:44the only thing that we had in mind in the first half. But as we said, as soon as you
03:49get the red card, it's just a completely different game. It's pointless talking about the first
03:53half, to be honest, because you know that whatever we're going to say is just going
03:57to be ripped out the window and it doesn't matter. We just have to prepare for what we
04:01then have to do to go and win the game. That was the message as well. We felt like we were
04:05going to win the game, even with one less. We were so confident and the boys were so
04:10confident that if we executed the plan, it would work and we'd win. Obviously, it did.
04:15You must feel like you executed it perfectly. Pagam didn't really create anything at all
04:21in the second half and you kept going. The effort and the intensity across the team to
04:25a man and then a brilliant finish from Harrison Cable for the winner.
04:29It was a great goal, actually, to be fair. It was probably one of the real moments of
04:34quality in the game. It was much of a battle on a difficult pitch. It was a battle. Cable
04:41comes up with a goal, which he so often does. I didn't think he had his best game either,
04:46but as a striker, when you're in the team and he's got as many goals as he has this
04:50season, you've always got to believe he's going to get one. As a management team, we
04:53don't like taking him off because we know that he's got that in him. Even though he
04:56wasn't, like I say, having the greatest game, we definitely feel he had an impact on the
05:00game. We're delighted with the victory. It's going to put us, hopefully, in good stead
05:06going forward as well because it gives that lad an extra bit of belief that when we do
05:10have some poor moments, which undoubtedly we will have coming up for the rest of the
05:14season, they can step up and go, yes, we can do this. It helps moving forward massively.
05:20Obviously, there's still a fair way to go in a season, but this play-off push, you've
05:25been right up in it all season. Potentially, results like that, when you win 2-1 with 10
05:30men, they can be vital coming into the season, really, can't they?
05:34Yes, well, the one thing we've been really big on all year is take it game by game and
05:40do as much as what we can for the next game. It sounds so simple, but just do your best
05:47to not lose the games. Sometimes we accept that draws are good. We thought a draw last
05:53week to Kroger was good, even though in the second half we were the better team there.
05:57But a draw is still OK. We're big on just thinking if you just don't lose games, then
06:03people don't really pull away too much. The gaps don't get too big. Also, the tight the
06:10games are, you can come up with moments of quality like that. I feel like we've defended
06:14really well all season. We don't really give teams many chances, even in the first half
06:18there. Pagan looked threatening, but I don't really remember them having much. They had
06:26one over a kick from the edge of the box, basically. Other than that, it was the same
06:31story against Kroger last week. We've got a lot of good foundations. We've had a lot
06:37of good moments in adverse times. As you said, all we can do now is focus on Haswick next
06:44week. Again, just try and put in the same level of effort to try and get another result.
06:49Presumably, the changing room is absolutely buzzing and really good spirits after that today.
06:54Football is about moments. Sometimes you're not going to always be successful, but you've
06:58got to try and enjoy it as you go. It's a good moment for the lads today. We're not
07:01going to get ahead of ourselves, which I think we've been quite good at this year. We've
07:05had some good runs of unbeaten form and we're hoping to continue another one. If you can't
07:11enjoy moments like that, then probably sport isn't for you. We're certainly going to enjoy
07:15it, but not get too carried away. We've got another job to do this week in preparation
07:19for Haswick, which starts on Tuesday.
07:20The next game now is another home game against Haswick on Saturday. You'll start preparing
07:26on Tuesday. What are your thoughts on that game and what do you expect from that?
07:29Clearly, it's going to be a tough game. They're top of the league for a reason. They've lost
07:34one or two games for one game for a reason. They're obviously a good team. They've got
07:39good players. They're a good bunch. They're a good team. We expect a very tough game,
07:47a very physical game. We saw enough in the second half there last time that we will come
07:55with a game plan. Whether it's right or wrong, if we execute it well enough, we'll do what
08:02we need to do. The boys do what they need to do. We'll see if we can get a result.
08:06Obviously, they're top so you'll respect them, but you definitely obviously won't fear them.
08:11You've obviously got so much quality in your side and going well in the playoffs. You know
08:15obviously you put the right game plan together. You can more than take it to them.
08:21Yes, step five football in today. Step five players. There's going to be inconsistency
08:25in their performance, I'm sure. I know they're top of the league, but I'm sure they've had
08:28moments in the season where they've not played as well. If we can potentially catch them
08:31on a bad day, we can be at it. I have no doubt we can get a result, but we've got to make
08:36sure that we're at it before we worry about what they're going to do. I believe if we
08:39both come and play the best we can, we can still get a result as well. We've just got
08:44to have that belief. We'll respect them, but we definitely won't be fearing them.