MANAGER:I want a better performance

Manager Paul Simpson ahead of Saturday’s Sky Bet League One fixture against Cambridge United.

Speaking to us yesterday, Paul said: “I want a better performance [than we showed against Portsmouth].

“I think we’ve got to, we have to expect a better performance.

“I thought first-half, we split it into thirds, and the first two thirds we did okay. The build and create sections I thought we did well, the finish we didn't do very well. We have to make it three out of three, we’ve got to get all areas right.

“We’ve got to make sure that we stay positive, we create opportunities and try and get a finish to it and I think if we do that, we’ll give ourselves a real lift, we’ll give ourselves a chance and hopefully give the fans a lift as well.”

This weekend’s visitors were defeated on Tuesday night by Portsmouth, whilst our fixture was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch at the Pirelli Stadium.

When asked if our lack of football midweek could help us against the U’s, he said: “It’s how we go about it, it’s how the players start this game, whether they go into it with bravery and real intent to win the game. We have to, we’ve got to go and work to get the first goal. We then have to stay on the front foot and try and get a second goal and make sure we finish it off.

“I keep saying it week in week out, I was going to say I’m fed up of saying it but I’m not, I want to keep saying it, we have to get results, we’ve got to start winning games and the players have got to go with that belief that we’ve got the ability to do it and start showing it.

“It’ll be a tough game, I think any side that Neil Harris puts out has always got a bit of fire in their belly. They’ll be well organised, they play quite direct up to Lyle Taylor, who is a real good striker. They’ve got wide players in [Sullay] Kaikai and [James] Brophy and forwards like [Jack] Lankester who are good players, and experience at the back with [Michael] Morrison and [Ryan] Bennett. 

“It’s going to be a tough game, but these are the games we have to believe that we’ve got a chance.

“We’ve got a little run of games coming against teams in and around us, obviously all above us, that we’ve got to be looking at trying to nip them back to us. 

“[We need to] Just try and get our job done right, try and get our three points in the bag and see what it does.”

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