United boss Chris Beech spoke more about the weekend game against Swindon Town as he continues to prepare for the Tuesday night visit of Cheltenham, despite the weather conditions.
“I do think it’s a game we could have taken all three points from,” he said. “We had some good chances and kept some potent players in Yates, Doyle and Hope outside of our box.
“I was really pleased with how we defended, and I was also pleased with how we responded to the setback, which is difficult against the team at the top of the league.
“The goal we scored was excellent, and after the goal it only felt like it was going to be us who was going to go on and win it. The support we had was fantastic, and they were almost willing that second goal to go in.
“We had a couple of half chances, but we couldn’t quite get the winner. I really thank the lads for their efforts and the supporters for their commitment; everybody was committed and it’s tremendous.
“I took a picture of the league table when I got the job and I think it was 19 points from 19, so we’re making progress. I keep saying this, but we’ve competed in all of the matches we’ve played, and we’ve fought in every one of them.
“I’m pleased that we’ve gone against a top team and really fought hard for everything. We’ll obviously look at what we could have done better ahead of Tuesday’s game, because we always want to improve.
“It is difficult when you come into a situation where everything is negative around the whole club. You have to stay calm and do the right things, but we haven’t done anything yet because I want to win.”
Speaking again about keeping the division’s most potent strike force under control, he commented: “The way we dealt with them was pleasing. As Doyle walked off I said to him I think he’ll go and get his 35 goals. He’s too clever for League Two defenders, but he wasn’t clever enough against ours.
“I looked at the goals the lads had conceded before I arrived, and a lot of them from the early part of the season were coming down the opposition right. I had to change, and I wanted more defensive elements in that position.
“Nick Anderton isn’t going to be putting a load of crosses in for our strikers to get on the end of, but he allows our attacking players to go and do that with confidence. It’s hard to win games if you concede then concede again, so it’s important we have those defensive players on the pitch.
“Together, collectively, we now want to keep this good run going, but we want to add more wins to it. We’ve got to make sure when we go to work that we want to get better and develop.
“That goes for everybody, not just the younger players, I want more from every single one of us. If we get that we’ll be competing and getting results, so it really is about what we do.”
Click HERE to watch an interview with Chris Beech on iFollow United now.
Click HERE to see a clip from this interview on our YouTube channel. Follow the same link for more FREE content right from the heart of the club.