joyceinterview2may18

Midfielder Luke Joyce made appearance number 45 for the campaign at Vale Park on Saturday and he played his part once again in making sure the side overcame a first half deficit to take all three points from their final away day trip.

“It was a good way to finish off our away campaign,” he said. “It was a decent performance and a good three points in front of a great following, and I think it was important that we gave the fans something to cheer about.

“They travelled again in their numbers, even though it would have been easy for them to stay away with us only having two games to go and not being able to get into the play-offs. They’ve got right behind us and it was nice to score the two goals down that end, so we could celebrate with them. The scenes at the end were nice as well."

“It was good to be able to turn the game around because we were disappointed to go into half time 1-0 down," he continued. "We dominated possession, but they scored from their only real attack, which we were disappointed about.

"We responded in the right way, we kept playing our football and trying to do the right things, and that's what got us two good goals in the end."

“Once we got the equaliser I think we all felt that there was only going to be one winner," he agreed. "We were confident in the way we were playing and we were knocking the ball about well.

"The first goal was a great finish from Ash [Nadesan] then Dev [Jamie Devitt] did really well in the build up for Hallam [Hope] to get the second."

The midfielder's versatility was demonstrated once again during the game when he switched a first half holding role for a much more attack-minded approach after the break.

“I’m happy to do whatever the manager wants me to do and whatever needs done for the team," he said. "I enjoyed getting on the ball in the first half, as well as doing a lot of work off the ball by trying to pull them out of position.

"That created space for other players to get on the ball, which was the aim. It was great to get the win for the fans and they then showed their appreciation to the manager. It was nice for us to be able to go over and celebrate the three points with the fans because we want to finish the season strongly.

"We’ve been on a good run for the past few months and we want to keep that going right until the end. We want to finish with as many points as possible so we’ll go into the Newport game on Saturday looking for another three points and another good performance for the fans."

And on his future beyond this weekend's final game, he said: “We know what the gaffer is doing next season now, and for lads like myself, who are out of contract, we know we’ll find out what is happening on the Monday after the awards.

"With the manager not being here next season, we still aren’t really sure what will happen, but we’ll just have to wait and see and do our best on the pitch.

“If everything was right I would love to be here next season. First and foremost I’ve got to hope there’s a contract offer, then we’ll see where we go from there once we see who the club brings in as the new manager, and hear what he thinks.”

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