MANAGER: It's a platform and a stage

“We’re going to look to go and take the game to the opposition,” he said. “Hopefully we’ll give them a good game and get the right result. 

“I think it’s going to be a full house and a party atmosphere. They’ll be presented with their trophy and I know their players will want to perform for their home fans. We’ve got to be in a good frame of mind and play without fear. 

“It’s a platform and a stage that every player would want to play on because it’s a fantastic stadium. These are the games you want to test yourself in so I want us to give a good account of ourselves, individually and collectively, so that we get the result we so desperately want.”

“Wolves will get the points record for the division if they win so they have something to go for,” he added. “It’s a challenge for us to go to the league champions, who have been the best in the league by a country mile, and make sure our game plan is aggressive, brave and composed. 

“I don’t want players looking over their shoulders at what the consequences are because it could be a very strange day. We’re hoping it works in our favour.” 

“It’s a game where the fear element should be gone,” he agreed. “It’s out of our hands but we saw on Tuesday night exactly what we’re capable of. We also saw, again, that we lack that little bit of quality in front of goal but that’s been the case all season.”

“We gave Wolves a very good game up here,” he told us. “It probably came at a point in their season when they asked themselves a lot of question about where they were going. That demonstrates we’re more than capable of performing against the bigger boys and we’re very much looking forward to the chance to do it again tomorrow.

“The fear element has consumed too many of the players over the last few weeks and we spoke at length ahead of the Crawley game about taking the shackles off. I thought they responded and worked extremely hard and they now have to keep going. 

“Strange things do happen in this game and that will be the message for tomorrow. They have to go and express themselves as much as they can and, with the game plan we have in mind, we should see a good performance.

“When I first got the job I told the players that every day is an opportunity, whether that is in training or in a game. When it’s a match day you get scouts, managers and a whole host of other people, and they will assess what you do. It’s a stage for you to perform and showcase yourself. Saturday is another example of that.”

“Obviously I did know relegation was a possibility when I took the job,” he confirmed. “We were bottom of the table, with two points, but once we got three wins and a draw we then had belief and there was a new feeling around the club. 

“There have been all sorts of things that have happened since Christmas that we haven't been able to affect. There were loan players who went back to their parent clubs and that had an impact on us. We're now in this situation and we have to deal with it.

“Tomorrow is a huge game which we're really looking forward to. Hopefully we'll get the right performance and then we'll be hoping everything else falls into place. It isn't over until the fat lady sings and we'll be giving it our absolute all.

“Gary [Madine] hasn't been given permission to play tomorrow but he's injured anyway so that isn't an issue now. That's obviously a disappointment but it just seems to have been the story of our season. We go there with a group of players who want to do a job. Hopefully that will be the case.”