Brad Potts on an unbelievable season
Defender Brad Potts gave us his thoughts on the weekend draw with Preston North End and spoke about a season which, on a personal level, has been nothing short of fantastic.
“It was great to be in a game like that, especially with nearly six thousand people there,” he said.
“The atmosphere was good and the only disappointment was that we didn’t get the win. It definitely had a bit of an extra kick to it, but that was because of the number of fans.
“Preston brought a few as well but, to be honest, once you get into it you find that it’s just like any other game.”
“I don’t think we started off that well,” he admitted. “The good thing was that we managed to get to half time at 1-1. We pushed on more in the second half and I thought we were going to score again. Obviously it just wasn’t meant to be.”
And on his late, goal-bound thunderbolt, he added: “I was devastated when it didn’t go in. I’m still due a goal but I suppose it was a decent save by their keeper. Hopefully one of those will go in for me one day.
“I did actually think it was going in. There was a defender right in front of me and he moved almost at the same time I hit it. Somehow the keeper got there and I was gutted about that.”
Now in his fourth spell of the season at right-back, he confirmed that he had learned a lot from his experiences in that position so far.
“I don’t mind playing at right back at all,” he admitted. “I just want to play as many games as possible, whatever position I’m in.
“I’m not sure why it’s felt better playing there since I got back into the team this time round. I think I’m learning more and getting better with the more games I play.
“As a full back you get to see everything that’s in front of you, and that’s helped. It’s not as tight as it can be in the middle of the pitch but, like I say, I’ll play anywhere.”
“Being involved with the last few games and the wins we’ve had has helped my confidence,” he said. “I think we’ve seen everyone stick together and the hard work has brought us all a reward. Bournemouth will be a really tough one but our aim is to keep it going down there.”
“I still have to pinch myself sometimes,” he told us. “When I’m walking out for some of these big games, like the other night at Doncaster, I do get a shiver down my spine. All you can do is deal with that, block the crowd out and get on with it.”
Looking back at the campaign as a whole, he said: “It has been an unbelievable season. I’ve started 26 games and I never expected that to happen. Now I’ve done it I just want to keep pushing on.”
And we couldn’t let our devout Magpies fan go without mentioning the other big game of last weekend.
“I’d rather not talk about it, thanks,” he said. “You just can’t describe how it feels to get beat in a game like that. I’m gutted. I was at the match as well, and I just felt like crying!”
United Player subscribers can see a video interview with Brad Potts now. Click HERE to go to the Player platform. Follow the same link for more information on United Player, and to subscribe.