Midfielder Jack Bridge scored his first goal for the club on Tuesday night when he calmly slotted home a 58th minute penalty to double United’s advantage over Barnsley as they cruised their way to progression into the second round of this season’s Carabao Cup.
Speaking after the game, he said: “It was brilliant to be involved in a performance like that. We were all disappointed after Swindon, so to come here and perform like that was great. I thought everyone was different class.
“It was important to put right what had gone wrong on Saturday, and I think we showed what we’re about. The work rate and the football was there, and it’s paid off with a great result. Results like this do give you confidence, and it’s such a buzz coming off the pitch. Everyone is on a high, but we’ve got to make sure we do it again when we play Mansfield.”
“We’ve set the standard now and we’ve got to show that we can keep producing this in the upcoming games,” he continued. “We’ll prepare for Saturday and we’ll be looking to put in the same level of performance.
“We were under pressure a little bit in the first ten minutes or so, but we showed resilience to stay in the game. We showed that we can stand up to it, and we came out the other end and we took our chances when they came.
“When a team performance comes together like that it is great to be involved in it. That’s why I came here. I love playing the type of football we’re playing at the moment.”
Having weathered an early storm to go on to dominate the game, he told us: “Once we got the first goal we felt like we were going to go on and score more.
“We could have actually nicked a couple more goals towards the end, but I think we’re all happy with 3-0 scoreline.
“We’re back at home on Saturday and we just want to continue this. The first game of the season was brilliant at home, I think everybody enjoyed it, and we just want more of the same.”
And it was revealed by the manager that the right to take penalties was won during a hotly contested pre-season competition on the training pitch.
“We did have a bit of a competition between a few of us and thankfully I won it,” he confirmed. “Hopefully I can just keep scoring them when they come. I don’t mind taking penalties, I’ve always done it if I’ve had the chance.
“I was pleased when we got it, but I would rather have had the goal already after Nath [Thomas] scored it. It’s allowed me to get on the scoresheet though, which is always nice.”
The final whistle brought celebrations with the sizeable United support situated just beside the tunnel, conveniently close to where the players left the field of play.
“The fans were brilliant tonight and it was great to see them at the end,” he said. “There were so many of them, which was amazing to see on a Tuesday night.
“You could hear them throughout the whole game and it does give you a massive boost. It was really nice to walk off right in front of them at the end.
“It’s a great club to be with in my opinion. I feel like I settled in quite quickly and I’m really enjoying it here. I’m living with a few of the boys, so we’re all quite close, and that obviously helps. We just want to push on and have a good season now.”
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