Manager Paul Simpson spoke to us ahead of Saturday’s game against Barrow, which is a fantastic game to look forward to for players and fans alike.
“It’s a hell of a game for our first home league game of the season,” he said.
“It's a game we're looking forward to. We know there's an expectation, but that's from ourselves as well. We're really looking forward to getting started and hopefully coming away with the right result.
“I wouldn't say there’s any added pressure after the first two results, it's just normal, we're expected to get a result.
“We're at home. It's a local derby, so we want to do it just as we did against Gillingham and Stoke. I think when you haven't won your first two games, then people start to get a bit edgy and start to get a bit nervy.
“But we've just got to make sure we keep calm about it, make sure we keep going about it in the right way and hopefully get a full performance that leads to a good result.”
With the total crowd already over 7,000 on Thursday afternoon, it’s set to be a fantastic afternoon at Brunton Park.
“I'm quite sure it will be,” Simpson agreed. “I wasn't aware of how many we’d sold, but it's an exciting day because it's the first game that we've got some of the new boxes open. We've got the new Fan Zone at the back of the Warwick Road End, which has now been tarmacked, and that's ready for use on Saturday.
“It'll be brilliant to get those stands open again, and we've just got to make sure we get our performance right. It'll be brilliant to have the fans with us and hopefully our supporters will be the ones who'll be happy.
Following Tuesday’s defeat against Stoke, we wondered what the mood was like in the dressing room ahead of Saturday’s game: “The mood is good,” the gaffer told us. “We knew that it was going to be a tough game on Tuesday. Stoke City are a good championship side.
“There were a lot of good things in the game. What we have to do though, we've got to turn those good things into goals and we've got to turn those goals into results. And if we'd have got different things, and they're all ifs and buts, if we'd have took one of our chances first half, it could have been different. We haven’t taken the chances in the first two games, so we've just got to make sure we do everything to make it happen on Saturday against Barrow.”
Barrow have started the season well, with a win against Crewe in the league and Port Vale in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday evening.
“They'll obviously be full of confidence,” Simpson continued. “I've watched both of their games back and they're a good, well-organised, drilled team with some good footballers in there with some threats. We know we're going to have to be on our guard against them.
“We're going in on the back of two defeats and they're coming in on the back of two wins, but that will count for nothing on Saturday because we're still going into it confident, still with the belief that we've got enough in here to be able to get that result.
“Looking at the way they've gone about it, they drop and let you have it at the back. And then they work from there. They're really compact and well-organised, and they work across the pitch together.
“They've got players in wide areas who can cause problems so it's going to be a tough game. No game is just going to be a stroll over. We've got to make sure that we work and earn the right and get our football going, as we have done in patches so far, but we've got to go and be clinical and make sure it counts.”
Ahead of a derby, players have to ensure they play the game rather than the occasion, and the gaffer commented: “I thought we did that well when we played them, what would it be, 18 months, two years ago. We did that in both of the games against them that season
“It’s different now. They've got a new manager, they've got a different style of play. But it doesn't change anything.
“We do have to just play the game. We've got to just get everything out of our mind from what's gone before and make sure that we deal with this 90 minutes properly, and then give us something to hold on to and move forward.”
Following Tuesday’s game, the gaffer reported an issue which Georgie Kelly had picked up during the half-time warm-up: “Georgie’s had a scan and there's a little bit of some early wear and tear issue with it. But they've said that he's free to carry on working.
“I think Georgie was just a bit concerned that if he carried on it was going to set him back. We've just got to manage it. We've been given some exercises, some sort of pre-activation stuff that he's got to do to make sure he keeps on top of it.
“He's trained today with the group that went out to train and hopefully there'll be no further issues. Nobody else came out from Tuesday night with any issues, so they're all fit and available for selection for the weekend.”
We also asked Paul how close he was to any potential signings as he continues to look to strengthen his squad: “There's nothing that I can say at the moment. We're continually trying to get players in.
“If I could get somebody before the weekend to come into the group then we would. But it's too early to say at the moment. We've still got a few weeks left before the window closes.
“I can assure everybody we are trying everything we possibly can to get players in, and we're going to add to the squad and hopefully improve the squad. We'll see what happens over the next few weeks.”
Click HERE to buy tickets for Saturday's game.
