hopeinterview17aug18

We caught up with striker Hallam Hope following his strike for goal-of-the-season contender against Blackburn Rovers on Tuesday night.

“The result was disappointing,” he admitted. “You don’t want to get beaten 5-1 in any game, but Blackburn are a good side.

"We did actually play some good football, they just punished us with some really clinical finishing.

“When you go two down so early on against a team like that it does give you a mountain to climb. I thought we did alright with the ball, we just need to tidy up a bit defensively. 

“When I scored it did feel like we could get back into it, but it felt like that through the whole game, because we kept going and made sure we didn’t give up.

“We kept pushing to the end and I think that’s the type of squad we’ve got. We’ll always keep fighting, no matter what the score is."

On the quality of the shot that took his tally to two for the season from just three games, he commented: “It was a decent goal. I got the ball and ran forward with it and no-one came to me, so I thought I might as well have a go.

"It just opened up nicely for me and I knew it was going in as soon as I hit it. Dev’s [Jamie Devitt] goal on Saturday wasn’t bad either, so hopefully that one from tonight will run it close in the goal of the season competition!

"I can’t think of any goals I’ve hit better than that one, so I’m pleased with that. I scored one at Fylde from a similar distance, even though that one took a deflection, so I thought I might as well try it again.

“On a personal note I’m happy with how I’m playing at the moment and I just want to keep doing it so I can help the team."

Having been on the wrong side of a big scoreline on Tuesday night we wondered if the dressing room would be affected as they make the long trip to Cheltenham at the weekend.

“I don’t think the squad will lose confidence, because we caused Blackburn plenty of problems," he told us. "If we can cause them problems then we can definitely cause teams in our league problems.

"If we keep playing like that we'll win plenty of games. We’ve got a good group of players and we want to win as many as we can.

“It would be great to get our first victory of the season at Cheltenham before we come back to our place with two home games next week. We’ll be doing everything we can to try and make it three wins from three.

“Cheltenham will be a totally different game to Blackburn, a completely different test for us, but we’ll stick together and do everything we can to get a win.”

Click HERE to watch an interview with Hallam Hope on iFollow United now.

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