Lee Miller on the Saturday game
Team captain Lee Miller gave us his reaction to the home win over Sheffield United at the weekend.
“That was absolutely massive for the lads,” he said. “It’s been a hard week for everybody involved with the club but the boys have grafted really hard in training, day in and day out, and I think that showed. We deserved the three points.”
“We’ve always trained well and prepared ourselves for the games,” he added. “We’ve just been missing that little bit of luck. I think the attitude of the boys, considering what had happened last week, has been first class. That showed with the performance, the grit and determination.
“I think we were all on our game today. The lads were first class and they applied themselves really well. The players tried to play with a smile on their face and they enjoyed having the ball and working hard for the points.
“It was great to see the fans singing along and enjoying themselves. That helped us because it was a really hard game and we had to patient. I was very tired come 80 minutes but Kav [Graham Kavanagh] had spoken to me and he told me to get out there and work myself into the ground. It’s the type of game where you have to earn your luck and I think we did that.”
On the goal which won the game, he said: “It was a definite goal – I watched it all the way. I was just about on the line and it was about three yards over. It was good from the linesman that he spotted that. That’s the luck we’ve been missing these last few weeks and hopefully we can take that on into Saturday.
“We’ve come out and got our first three points of the season and it was crucial for us to get this type of home performance. It wasn’t just about the result because it was a real team effort. We stuck to our shape and we didn’t give them time to get their game going.”
Looking back at what was a difficult week for the club, he told us: “Monday was very emotional but, at the end of the day, that’s football. This type of thing happens because it’s the industry we’re in. It’s about how you deal with it and hats off to Kav [Graham Kavanagh], Davie [Irons] and Tony [Caig] for the way they reacted to a difficult situation. We got behind them and they got behind us and it has worked out for us all.
“The responsibility on the shoulders of the senior players does increase when it’s a situation like this. A few of us are very experienced and we have take it upon ourselves to do things right. Personally I put myself under a lot of pressure and you shouldn’t be involved in the game if you can’t deal with situations like it.
“I think any new manager will come in and tweak things and put his stamp on it. I wouldn’t like to say exactly what’s changed, but what I can say is that the lads are 100% behind Kav, Davie and Caigy. They are the ones who have had to pick us up and get things ready this week. Kav demanded a lot of us today and it has worked out with a good result.”
“Obviously I’m a striker and I’m judged on my goals,” he continued. “I want to score as many as I can. However, if I can contribute by doing other work, and the team is getting three points, then that will do for me.”
Next up, of course, is the trip to Stevenage on Saturday.
“The last two away games have been tight and hopefully we can take positives out of that,” he said. “We can definitely take positives out of today and into the Stevenage game at the weekend. As long as we stick to our game plan and our shape then we have more than half a chance.”
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A clip from the Saturday interview is available to see below. Click HERE to go to our official YouTube channel for more FREE content from the heart of the club.