Manager Paul Simpson was pleased with the nature of the performance against Harrogate on Tuesday night which keeps the Blues’ hopes of qualifying for the next round of the competition alive.
“We knew we needed to win 2-0 to go ahead of Harrogate in the group. I believe Accrington need to win 3-0 in their game next week for us to go through so it’s out of our hands, but the important thing for us tonight and for us moving forward this season was that we had a good performance and we got a win. It’s a much happier place when you win games of football.
“I wanted a minimum of two goals tonight, we can’t do anything about next week. If you look at the three games it’s probably fair to say we don’t deserve to get through, but football doesn’t always work that way, sometimes you get a lucky break.
"If Accrington go and get three goals against Forest, who knows what can happen. We know we’re in a tricky position with results in the league so getting a result tonight gives everybody a lift. If we can stay involved in it and get another game before Christmas and get another result, who knows what sort of confidence that can give to the group.
“Harrogate are a good side, they’ve got some good players, I always find it hard to understand how they’re struggling in League Two, because they always look a good side against us, they seem to be well coached, well organised. I’m delighted to get the result. I didn’t care who we got the result against. Tonight it was Harrogate, and I want us to do everything we possibly can to get a result against Charlton next Saturday.”
“I thank the 700 fans who did come tonight,” he continued. “I get it why they aren’t going to come for a game like tonight but there’s hopefully some real exciting times ahead. We can put this one to bed now and see what comes next week to see whether we do go through. I think we’ve got big fish to fry in League One this season and hopefully tonight will give us a bit of confidence to take forward and make sure we go and give ourselves a real fighting chance.
“It was important to get a win and a clean sheet. I thought we showed really good control, we were patient when we had the ball and even the spell in the second half where I thought they put us under a little bit of pressure, I thought we showed good control in terms of not panicking and sticking with the game. I thought there were some really strong individual performances which I’m absolutely delighted with.
“I thought we deserved to lead at half time, I would have liked us to have been a little bit more front foot. We possibly got a little bit fancy towards the end of the first half where we were trying flicks instead of doing the simple things well which is what we did for the majority of the half.
“In the second half I thought we kept trying, we kept moving the ball and I thought Luke was a real threat up front. Jordan Gibson worked his socks off and when he’s working like that, that’s when he's really effective for the team. It was good to get Alfie in there because he wasn’t suspended for this one, and all in all I thought it was a really good performance from us.
“It’s nice to get a win, that’s the big thing, it seems like a long time since we’ve had that. That’s a nice feeling and it will give everybody a bit of confidence to take into the little break we’ve got before the Charlton game.”