We spoke to Mike Williamson following our defeat to Wigan in the Emirates FA Cup.
Despite the result, the Blues were brilliant. Down to 10 men from 14 minutes, they gave it everything. Mike spoke with pride, saying: “The effort that we put in was incredible, every single lad, even the ones on the bench, the crowd and the fans, it was fantastic to hear.
“It was a real whole-hearted performance. Obviously, still coming up short in terms of the chances we had. But I thought their keeper made some fantastic saves and we were relentless in everything we did.
“And especially going down to 10 men against a team that moved the ball extremely well. And they've got a way of playing and you can see how well-drilled they were and how much they all knew their jobs. And it made it much harder.
“But taking that opposition to the length we did, it was very pleasing. The way that our fans reacted to their second goal probably summed it up. They could see that the lads had given it everything.
“We defended so well for the majority of that game. Concentration just dropped for a split second. We get punished. And then you've got to take risks.
“You've got to take gambles. The whole way through we worked and we never gave up. We never stopped believing.
“There's still things that we're going to look back at and we'll review. We'll try and clip it up and show the lads. But on the face of it, I think the resilience, emotionally, the concentration and how much we threatened their back line, it was all very pleasing.”
Gabe Breeze started in goal for the Blues, and produced a brilliant performance, making countless saves. Mike spoke about that: “I think there's a number of people we could go through and individual performances that stood out. Collectively, I think that was the biggest win today.
“Gabe came in and he was fantastic and he made some really big saves. But also, we played when we needed to and obviously went long when we needed to. But yeah, there was numerous performances we could be talking about."
The Blues piled on the pressure, especially late on, with the Wigan keeper making some stunning saves. Mike continued: “I think after the game we came in and Ian said to the lads, the natural thing to do is ask yourself and each other, have we given everything? And I think the answer is quite clear today. I think the fans saw that and applauded it."
Ethan Robson was sent off after 14 minutes, in what looked a harsh call, Mike gave his view: “I didn't think it was a red card initially, but obviously sometimes you can misjudge and get these things wrong.
“But when I looked at their reaction, there was no reaction there. And then they had the replay and said, yeah, there was no contact there. So one of those things, again, the amount of chances that we missed, the keeper making saves, decisions like that, there seems to be a lot going against us.
“But again, the endeavour, the resilience, the passion that the boys, the humility they went about it was fantastic to watch.”
On appealing the red card, Mike added: “Yeah, sitting here now, I think that I'd be very keen to.”
The lads seemed to use the red as motivation, and the crowd really got behind the lads after that. Mike discussed that: “Like I say, sometimes it does feel as though there's something against you.
"The bravery, the courage, the amount of chances we created. I think sometimes we can say we weren't clinical and of course, but their keeper made some fantastic saves. And like you say, they really had to work hard to get through.
“The consolation is the performance and we dust ourselves off and we go again.”
Dan Adu-Adjei returned today, and United made numerous changes, with Tyler Burey also starting. Mike spoke about the changes:
“All of my changes today were to really just look after the boys. It's probably frustrating because you can see players having really good performances and then they get pulled off. But obviously the bigger picture is wanting to look after them.
“We've had issues with injuries. Dan has come back, he's been a breath of fresh air in training. That's him and Dom.
“I mean, they're just so young, but they play with such a maturity and endeavour and a lot of bravery and courage. And Tyler, we brought him in because he's got that pace and he's got that ability to hurt teams, he showed that today, which was really pleasing.”
Harrison Biggins missed out today, we got an update on him: “He's picked up a calf injury, he’s had it scanned. It shouldn't be too long."
On Kadeem Harris, who’s been training with the Blues, Mike said a deal was close:
“We were hopeful the clearance would come through, but obviously it didn't come through before the game. Again, these things can drag, but we're very keen and we'll be doing everything we possibly can to get it through ASAP.”
