MANAGER: You have to keep that belief

The manner of the win at Swindon at the weekend suggests once again that there is plenty of belief in the dressing room as the squad continues to quietly go about its business.

“When things like what happened on Saturday happen it just keeps building the belief levels, which is good for everyone,” manager Paul Simpson said. “The longer you go through it the more belief comes, the closer you get to achieving something.

“You have to keep that belief, keep the same work rate we have, make sure we stay in games better, stay ahead in games.

“You saw the desire that came from the two players getting the block on for when they scored, unfortunately they got that bit of a break and the lad finished it. But there was a desire to do things properly, to defend.

“We need to do even more, to keep working even harder. I’ve always said it – the harder you work, the luckier you get. 

“And it is a fact that teams that achieve tend to do things the way we did it on Saturday. You’ve just got to keep going right through to the end. And you know something, I’d have been quite happy with a point, the way the game was.

“To get a win, wow, what a fantastic result for us, and I’m sure they’re absolutely gutted. It’s fair to say they didn’t deserve to lose.

“There are 11 games to go now, and they’re all really big games, huge games. I’ve no idea what else has gone on around the division but I don’t really care. I know that if we do our job properly we’ll be fine.

“Next weekend we have an opportunity at home again, against Stevenage, and we’ve just got to make sure we keep doing it right. We’ve got a result without really playing well, and I think it’s fair to say Swindon were the better team.

“I know they’ll be absolutely gutted, but I’m not apologising because we’ve just got to grind it out and find a way sometimes. The players stayed positive and I though the fans did the same, and I hope everybody else does.

“We don’t need any negativity around because none of these games are going to be straightforward. We’ve just got to grind it out.  What the lads have done so far after 35 games means that they deserve the plaudits for it. They’ve been brilliant and now we have to make sure we keep going for the last 11.”

And it was a result that will have made others in the top half sit up and take notice.

“It’s a body blow, isn’t it, when you see things like that,” the gaffer agreed. “But I don’t really worry about anybody else, it’s about us.

“We’ve suffered with some decisions that have gone against us, some mistakes we’ve made, some goals we’ve conceded. 

“I like Jody Morris and the way he’s got his team playing. Unfortunately for him we’ve had that little bit of luck that’s got us three points.

“You look and Swindon are struggling with injuries, having a tough time, but a lot of teams have had that. We’ve had a horrendous time this season, so to still be sat where we are when we’ve had our run of injuries, we’ve had for the majority of this season 25 per cent of our group not available for matches.

“If you’ve got that it shows the work the others have done to dig in and stay in. We’ve just got to hope the plan of peaking for the last ten games is going to come right.”

“Our fans are certainly doing their bit,” he concluded. “To see those numbers, yeah, they’ve been brilliant since last February.

“Last big push, seven or eight weeks or whatever it might be, let’s stick together and enjoy it, let’s not be negative, let’s keep a real positive mindset and hope we can be celebrating something together.”

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