Just one defeat from seven league games, and three clean sheets amongst that, has seen United’s defensive unit pick-up well-deserved praise, with Tuesday night’s display another example of a determination to keep the door shut.
“They were great the other night, the back three really performed well,” assistant manager Gav Skelton said. “They know they have to be right on their game because they’ve got people like Corey Whelan, Jack Ellis and Duncan Idehen waiting to step in.
“When they’ve had opportunities to play they’ve done really well, and rightly so they’ll be feeling disappointed that they aren’t part of it. The three we mentioned had the shirt on Tuesday, but they know if they want to play again in the next game that they have to perform.”
“I thought we looked strong and organised at Mansfield,” he added. “The back three were really solid, competed well, limited them to very few chances. I can’t remember the last time they didn’t score at home, it’s a long time.
“Credit to them and to the whole team. It’s just a shame that finer detail at the far end, we couldn’t get what we probably think as an away team we deserved. With the way we defend, we’ve done a bit of work on it.
“Morgan hadn’t trained loads before that Rochdale game, but it seems to be coming together, always with the knowledge that those who aren’t playing want the shirt, which adds an edge.
“Just the one defeat with whoever has played shows commitment and how desperate they are to not get beat. We really do want to turn the draws into wins, but we always say that if you don’t win a game, don’t lose it.
“Tuesday is fresh in the mind and again there was a massive desire not to get beat. I thought you could actually see how much we wanted to win the game, but if we want to get to where we want to be, and I do think we’re capable of having a good season, whatever good may be, then we want to go to places like Mansfield and expect to get a positive result.
“There was so much good to come out of Tuesday, but we want to expect rather than hope that when we go to these tough places we’ll get a result. We played well, but we now have to back it up with results in the games to come.
“It’s a good performance away from home, and a clean sheet, and defenders pride themselves on that. We must back it up now with wins under our belt.”
It goes without saying that taking the chances created is a big part of that particular equation.
“We’re all human and obviously you do feel frustrated when you play like we did on Tuesday and you don’t win,” he agreed. “You always come away with a list of ifs, whats and maybes, but that’s football. That’s why we all love it.
“We all look at games through tinted glasses, and I’m sure they’ll see a couple of things for them that could have made a difference. We made some really good chances and on another day we’d expect to score at least one of them.
“I have to say, I felt really sorry for Denno. He’ll be disappointed, but his overall perform was excellent. He played so well leading the line up front and he gave three very physical centre backs plenty to think about.
“His intelligence and knowledge of when to run long and to get it to feet was really good, and him getting a goal would have been the reward he deserved.
“We’ve spoken about finishing things off in training and when we do a passing drill, be it basic or more complicated, we’ve looked at the importance of how you pass to a team-mate - the weight of the pass, in front of them so they can take a touch or finish first time, not just dump it on them where they have to take a touch or adjust their feet.
“It’s small margins. When you look at the top, top quality, you don’t even notice it sometimes. When you break it down to the top teams, when they get in that final third, how they’re helping that person they’re passing to, that then helps the next movement, and it all comes together. It’s not just the final finish, it’s the build-up.”
“Look, there will be no people more frustrated than the ones who had the opportunities,” he concluded. “We’ll keep working on it. You can look at it a hundred million ways but it’s opportunities we should score.
“You can’t hide behind it. We’ll keep going and I’m sure, as we’ve shown this season, we’re more than capable of scoring goals. We’re creating opportunities.
“People say, it’s worrying if people weren’t getting in those positions, thinking I don’t want to get in there because I might miss, which can happen. But they keep getting in there and I’m sure they’ll get the rewards.
“People talk about other teams and saying they’ll hit their straps and it’ll start falling for them. Our performances have shown if we hit our straps, we can be a real threat to teams as well.”
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