Defender Ben Barclay was back in the match day squad for the first time since the end of November on Tuesday night and he looked like he’d never been away as he covered just about every blade of grass, both defensively and in support of the attack.
On his performance, manager Paul Simpson said after the game: “To be honest Ben worked really hard and tonight was about not forcing the issue with Joel Senior.
“I was concerned we might have been asking too much of him and I thought he looked a bit tired on Saturday. It was an opportunity to take him out of it.
“It’s funny because a few weeks ago I tried Ben in training as a right back, wing back, just to see how he was, and I thought he looked really comfortable with it. He hasn’t done himself any harm at all with the way he played.
“I thought he showed a real calmness, and he was probably more calm in the right back position, and he had to adjust with the way they pushed Kay forward, and that did push us back a little bit. The changes we made helped us as a team and it certainly helped Ben as well.
“I think he's a leader. The way he goes about it, he’s a good talker. We don't often get footballers nowadays who speak on the pitch, but Ben does, he's an intelligent footballer and I thought he did really well. I'm pleased he’s back.
“I really like him. I like him as a bloke, he goes about his business properly. He's been so unfortunate because he picked up a horrendous ankle injury, got himself back fit and then did it again.
“And it's just little things that have just kept him out, so I'm really pleased with him. He's given me a nice alternative to Joel at right back, right wing back, while we wait patiently for Jack Ellis to get fit. But he certainly didn't do himself any harm.”
The midweek win made it six victories from seven, and four in a row, two nice little stats to have in the bank.
“We keep saying it, but we need to keep it going,” he told us. “We’ve told the players after the game that it was a really good professional performance and we showed resilience as well.
“But we have to go again now. This one is put to bed very quickly and Saturday is the next one. We can enjoy it tonight, then forget about it tomorrow so that we can get ready to move on and try to put on another good performance.
“A run like this, I think this is a bigger message to ourselves, and it’s just that we have to keep going. It’s irrelevant about the others. We’ve just got to make sure we do our jobs properly and we have to continue to be ruthless.
“We’re getting closer to the final ten weeks and that final dozen games where things are achieved. If we can give ourselves a good starting point going into those games, and if we keep our mentality right, we’ll give ourselves a really good chance.
“It’s credit to the players that we’re in this position. I think they've got a really good spirit in there. You know, I'll talk about it again in that before the game, I asked the players just to sit down and, according to my watch, it was about a minute before the bell was about to go.
“They were about to go out for the game so I asked them to sit down just for a final message. And the lads who weren't involved in the game came in the dressing room and started going around and shaking their hands.
“And we're talking about Jayden Harris who I’m sure is frustrated he's not involved, Tobi, who's now going to need surgery and possibly neeting surgery out for a while. Taylor Charters on crutches. Ryan Edmondson with half a shoulder at the moment.
“These lads are coming in and wishing everybody all the best, because there is a real togetherness. And I think that's really important that we keep everybody together and keep everybody on the right side of it and look after each other. If we do that, we give ourselves a hell of a fighting chance.”
“It’s all about looking to the Saturday game now,” he concluded. “I’ve got to say, I want us to find a way because I'm sick of going up against Harrogate and getting turned over.
“I want it to be right this week and I want to make sure we dust ourselves down and get ready to go again. We've got to be full of energy put as much into the Harrogate game as we can, try and get three points again and keep us pushing forward.”