We spoke to Mike Williamson following our 2-1 victory over Accrington.
Mike began with his thoughts on the game: “I thought it was a tough game. I mean, the conditions as well. I thought the boys battled and you could see the desire and intensity and the need to win every contact, which was important.
“I'm really proud of them. I think unless you've played the game and you know the circumstances and how the lads have been down this week, they've had to pick themselves up and everyone's come together, I thought they did it really well and then went out there and just put a real gritty performance on.”
On the reaction from a poor Boxing Day performance, Mike said:
“Unless you've lived it yourself, you don't know what it feels like and obviously football's those boys' lives and it's everything to them. So what they feel, what everyone feels around it, they feel it ten times worse and for them to dust themselves off and react like they did, they deserve so much credit.”
United started the game well, and took the lead after just 11 minutes through Kadeem Harris, Mike said:
“Our focus was on the start and we've got to come out and really put the pressure on. I thought in the first half obviously the wind played a big factor for both teams and both halves, which is hard. We had to try and deal with that.
“I thought the quality from both teams was lacking for long periods because of the anxiety and the nature of the game, I thought we coped with it well. We put our bodies on the line, got away with a few things but also thought we could have scored another couple of goals.
“I think it was a real team gritty performance. Obviously I can talk about individuals but I don't really want to. I think actually the collective need to back each other up.
“I thought it was fantastic and we need that bit of quality which we showed today.”
The Blues fielded a very attacking starting line-up, with Jordan Jones and Dom Sadi at wing-back. Mike explained those selections:
“Every game we want the early start and we look at how well the opposition defend certain actions, and we thought that cutting back and delivering from the half-space they defend really well.
“They're big physical players but we thought we had an opportunity to get behind them. I thought first off we had a lot of pressure, opportunities. Second half it was more counter and just sheer endeavour that got our opportunities."
Kadeem Harris opened the scoring, his first for the club. Mike spoke on a sparkling display from United’s number 40:
“He’s been fantastic. He's been battling a chest infection.
“He's been really forthcoming and wanting to be available as quick as he possibly can. Again, it just shows personality. He wants to come in and he hasn't been here long but how much he wants to help the boys and help the fighters is a credit to him.”
Kadeem was a big part of the second goal too, as he charged down the Accrington goalkeeper, and the block then fell for Luke Armstrong to tap in. The kind of luck The Blues have been missing, Mike said:
“I think when we've been on the back foot we said you do make your own luck and I think when you feel as though things are going against you it's generally because you've taken a back step emotionally, mentally and with your confidence.
“But I think everyone again just made that concerted effort to stand up to show what they're made of, to show the personality and the resilience and that just typified it because we were on the front foot, we were anticipating, we caused a bit of chaos and then ended up getting the second goal.”
Jordan Jones captained the side today in the absence of Sam Lavelle. Which seemed to really galvanise him, Mike said:
“There's a lot of leaders in there, but for him, he came in after Boxing Day and he was very vocal and you can see it in his actions and intensity in training. He really is one that wants to stand up and be counted and he wants to take responsibility as well. He’s been a credit to the club”.
On the absence of Sam Lavelle, Mike explained:
“It's good news. He had the scan yesterday, he hasn't been able to train, he's still feeling something. We'll see how he is tomorrow but fingers crossed he'll be back very soon.
“He's still got some discomfort there but we're hoping it's just bruising.
“We just thought it was a little bit too early to risk that because obviously there's a lot of football to play.”
We also asked about Aaron Hayden, and if he had picked up an injury. Mike answered:
“No, he’s not injured. I just thought because of his game time, games are coming thick and fast and we just needed that bit of energy. I thought Jack came on and did that really well, he was on the front foot for a lot of actions and stopped a lot of attacks at source."
On Georgie Kelly’s injury, Mike said:
“Yes, we have. He's going to be out for a sustained period. I'm not too sure how long it’ll be, but I don’t think it’s going to be in the next couple of months.”
On Callum Guy, Mike said:
“I haven't really got much of an update. Like I say, I haven't really said too much about him but he's had a really tough time.
“We're hoping he's turned a corner and he's feeling slightly better but in terms of timescale, I haven't got that.”
Mike rounded off with some final thoughts:
“It's a difficult situation today. It doesn't change that. We've still got to go with the same mentality but I think it gives us an indication of where we are in terms of the fight and that determination, that desire to get out because it was a very difficult circumstance today, but the boys stood up.”
