We spoke to Steven Rudd after our 2-1 defeat to Nottingham Forest U21’s in the Bristol Street Motors Trophy.
He began with his thoughts on the game: "I think the performance overall is positive. We've dominated large spells of the game, had chances in the second half, a couple cleared off the line, but the ball wouldn't quite drop.
“We dominated possession and had the better of the chances in the game. That's positive, but obviously the way we've lost the game is disappointing.
The Blues conceded very late, we asked Steven what he put that down to, he said:
“Myself, Birchy and Jamie will take full responsibility for that.
“We've dominated the second half, equalised and we've told lads to go for it. It wasn't a case of sitting back wanting penalties. As soon as we score, we got the message on, to tell them we wanted to go and win the game, because we thought it was there."
The opening goal came with a slice of fortune, as the strike deflected past Gabe Breeze, Steven discussed that:
“I'm just thinking now, how many serves has Gabe had to make in the game? Only a couple, so it's not many.
“And then you look at their first goal, it ricochets in off Jack Ellis' bottom. Then at the other end, it just wouldn't drop for us. But when our luck turns, there’s goals there if we can get a little bit of belief and a little bit of confidence in front of goal. And on another night, you could be coming off there winning 4 or 5-1. So the lads have got to take positives.
“Yes, you create your own luck. But I'd be more worried if we had no chances.
“But like you say, when your luck's out at one end, things bobble in at the other end. You know, you make your own luck at the end of the day. It felt like we had chance after chance.”
The Blues took the game to Forest from the off, we asked Steven if that was by design, he answered:
“I think three minutes into the game, Luke Armstrong gets in one on one. And again, when you're winning games, things like that go in for you. But when you're not winning games and maybe don't have that confidence, you just need somebody to go and take the net off.
“And to be fair to Jake Allan, the composure for his goal, it's unbelievable to take the touch inside. But at times you just want somebody to go and put your foot through it, stick it in the net.
“But that'll come. And hopefully on Saturday at Bradford, all them little ifs, buts and maybes start flying in the net and the lads can take real belief from that tonight.”
Dylan McGeouch and Cameron Harper both returned to action, and both came off at half-time, we asked if that was the plan from the outset, Steven answered:
“It was always the plan to only give them 45 minutes because we've spoke internally as staff and with Sophie [Birnie} and Adam [Kwiecien], and we want to leave the group in a better position.
“So that includes the injured players. Can we get them back or as close to being back ready for when a new manager comes in? He's got a fully fit group of players to work with and we don't want to cause injuries. They're two brilliant characters in the dressing room."
Sam Hetherington, Freddie O’Donoghue and Jake Allan all made their debuts this evening, we spoke to Steven about that:
"It's great for them and they deserve it. They've been with the first team all pre-season. They've worked really hard.
“To be fair to all three, they've not had as much game time, with the lack of reserve games. That'll be Sam Hetherington's first 60 minutes in numerous weeks. It's the same with Jake and Aran, but the thing for them now is use that as an opportunity, which they have, and come and earn your place in the group.
"They've done really well. I'm proud of them. It's great for the academy that they've all got on the pitch. And they're not making numbers up. They've contributed to the game."
Jake Allan scored our goal, a brilliantly taken finish, Steven gave us his view of it:
“He has got that in his locker because he's a good footballer.
“I thought, I'll be honest, I just wanted him to put his foot through it and take the net off, but he's proved me wrong. It's a great little roll inside, played on his left foot, rolled it in the corner. It's great composure late in the game."
There was a number of excellent performances across the side, Steven spoke fondly about the side’s output:
“Yeah, we can't single anybody out because, in fairness, the squad tonight were fantastic.
“Attitudes, character, belief, they stood up to be counted for. But I think more importantly, just in there at the end and before the game, half-time, was all the lads who weren't in the squad. They are in this together.
“Terrell just spoke to the lads at the end, Charlie Wyke, people like that, they're all in there, sticking together. Yes, the result is not what we wanted at all but what's happened in the last few days has brought them together. They've had their own players meeting to galvanise them, so credit to them.
“The squad tonight were excellent. Even the lads who didn't get on, Anton coming back in, his attitude's absolutely fantastic. Charlie being around the group, Harry Lewis, you know, they're in this together.
"Lads who were in the stand, there's reasons why. But, we come back together Thursday and we get ready for Bradford on Saturday.
Aside from the obvious, we asked about the absentees and if there was any injuries, or if it was just a case of rotating and selecting a different squad. Steven responded:
“Yes, absolutely, just literally that.
“Like I said before, we don't want to be putting lads at risk of breaking down. We've got Dylan and Cameron back, that's a positive for the weekend. We're actually gaining numbers back. So it was just managing minutes, managing workload from Saturday.
“And credit to Jon Mellish, Harrison Neal and Daniel Adu-Adjei. They've gone out again tonight and it’s another 90 minutes for them, which is probably not ideal, but we'll manage them on Thursday and Friday and they'll be raring to go to Bradford again on Saturday.”
Sam Lavelle came off in the second-half, we asked about that as well. Steven said:
“Sam said he felt something, but absolutely no concern.
“I think it's when he struck one of the balls. We didn't want to take any risks. If we'd have kept him on, would we not have lost the game? Who knows, but then we might lose him for Saturday.
“Sam is a massive character. He's led the group tonight. He was captain, he leads the changing room, he's an unbelievable lad to have around. So that was just more precautionary and make sure he's right for the weekend.”
Of course, we had to ask Steven how he’s found the last few days, he said:
“It's been a whirlwind really. We got the call Saturday night and it wasn't a call any of us wanted. We had great relationships with Paul, Gav, Billy and Jake.
“But it's football, it's horrible. It's been a massive learning curve for us all kind of thrown into it Saturday night and that tonight is off the back of a two-hour training session yesterday, because the lads that played Saturday haven't been able to train fully on Monday. Imagine what we could be like with a couple of days work going into Bradford.
“It's been chaos. But what I would say is that the staff and the players have been absolutely brilliant. And that's not just the football staff.
“The staff on the East side have really got behind us as well, helped us out with things in terms of organisation, preparation, everyone. When things are up against you, people generally pull together and that's exactly what's happened in the last two days. Has it been ideal? No. Has it been a bit frantic and hectic with youth team games and stuff as well? Yeah, but we just get on with it.
“We're here to work and improve things in the short term.”
Steven, Mark and Jamie also had the youth team game earlier in the afternoon, so a busy day for them. Steven talked to us about that:
“Yeah, it's been a great Tuesday to be fair, apart from the result tonight. The youth team had a game at dinner time today. So we took that at 12 o'clock against Preston.
“We're having this opportunity to be caretakers and interim, but we can't forget what our main job is here is to improve the academy, get the next players through.
“So, it's been a fairly positive day. If we could just have hung on there or gone on and won it, that would have been the perfect Tuesday.”
On how the three of them have worked together, Steven said:
“We all took a bit of training each yesterday because we think it's important the lads get different voices. But tonight, obviously Birchy and Dev kind of mainly led it on the football side. I led the pre-team meeting with the information on Forest and what we wanted to do.
“So I kind of led that bit, but then it was over to them two. It's good for the lads to get the same message off a couple of different people. Especially with positive voices and enthusiasm.
On taking a breath, and having a couple of days to prepare for Bradford, Steven added:
“I'd love a couple of days, but Glenn [Boden] has just told us that I've got the video of Bradford's game ready to watch tonight.
“The lads will be off tomorrow, but we'll be getting organised, mainly just to organise training for Thursday and Friday. Let's start looking at Bradford, we're going there to win. We're not going there to just make up numbers and things like that. So no, there'll be no days off and we'll be in again tomorrow."
We’re expecting around 2,000 fans to be there on Saturday, we asked Steven how incredible it would be to get three points there, he responded:
“It would be fantastic. This club needs to start winning matches and what better place to do it, at Bradford away, with a massive following. We'll go there all guns blazing, ready to go.
“That would top off a not good first week, but that would end the week really well for us, I think.”