We spoke to Mark Hughes ahead of Saturday’s game against Bromley, firstly asking what the mood has been like in the dressing room this week, he said: “Initially a disappointment clearly because obviously the last two results haven't gone for us.
“As we always do we look back on the game, we reflect on what we did okay with and on the things that we didn't do so well with so it was a case of just looking at that, picking the bones out of it and then taking it from there, but not they've been in good spirits since.
“I think it's the case we’ve just got to get on with the job in hand, the games have gone, we can't affect them, it's in the past and it's only ones in the future that we can address and influence so that's what we intend to do.”
“Hindsight is a wonderful thing, and I had the benefit of hindsight when I talked about my team selection last week, we changed things around with the best intentions, some of it worked to a certain extent and other elements of the game plan didn't. That happens in most games in terms of areas of your play that you want to go well and maybe you can affect in a different way, as I said with the benefit of hindsight,
“Last week was a case of conceding goals at poor times. I mean it doesn't get any worse than after about 90 seconds, it was a terrible start for us and I thought we responded well in the first half to that setback.
“Then we get one exactly the same in the second half so it was a tall ask from that point onwards. We scored a very good goal I felt but didn't really maintain the momentum that a goal should create. That was probably the element of our play that I was disappointed with, we need to find a way to have multiple chances one after another gain that momentum that you need in in a game and then capitalise when momentum is with you.
“I think it's just difficult at the moment, and if we concede first then it becomes more difficult. We're in a position where we have to go for it now. Sometimes forcing the issue can cost you because you push too hard at the wrong time and then that's when you can concede, so we've talked about that and we recognise that and we'll try and do something about it.”
We then asked Mark if some of the pressure has been taken off the lads with some people outside the club thinking the season is over, he said: “Well we're not feeling that way at all, I mean we've got ten games left and it's all there for us.
“We need to go on a hell of a run, I think we accept that, but I've said it in almost every conference I've been in in that after games the opposition we've been up against has never been markedly better than us. I think circumstances and games have gone against us and we've lost games as a consequence, but we still could win the vast majority of the games that we have left. We've got to think in that way and have that positive mentality.
“The first goal is key, you've just got to make sure we're the team that's affecting the opposition and causing them problems that make them concede goals readily.
“It’s been important this week to get the mood right and I think we've been able to do that. There's a number of areas that we can look at and need to look at and we've done decent work today which I was happy with.”
Ahead of Saturday’s game against Bromley, we asked Mark what type of game he expects, he said: “They’re a good team in decent form at the moment so it's not going to be easy, but all the games are difficult at the moment.
“We've just got to go with a real positive attitude and make sure that we affect them. We face a lot of teams that are quite direct and Bromley are no different in that regard so we'll have to match that as always because you have to do that in League Two games, and then you hope that when those initial questions are asked then you see that challenge through, then you can play your stuff.
“We've got to play in the right areas, I think sometimes we're guilty of not getting the balance right and maybe playing in areas of the field that's not going to affect the opposition, so we need to get in good areas play in the opposition's half and then see where that takes us.
“They have ridden that wave that they've had in since they've come up and you see examples of a lot of teams that have done really well coming from the National League, and some have gone straight out of League Two as well on the back of it. You just get used to winning clearly and they've had a period where they probably expect to win rather than hope to win.”
As we go into the final ten games of the season, we asked Mark for his message to the fans: “It's all there for us, we we've just got to grasp this opportunity. We've had a couple of disappointments in the last two games that we've played but we've got more than enough games to get out of this situation. Let's just affect what we can affect and give it our best shot.”
