John Goddard believes consistency is now the key for Town and is confident of getting the job done against Eastleigh tonight (7.45pm Kick-Off).
The Reds will be hoping to see off the Spitfires at SN1 later in order to advance through to the Second Round of the Emirates FA Cup, where they will face either Dagenham & Redbridge or FC Halifax Town at home.
Town produced a hugely impressive showing to beat Charlton Athletic 3-0 on Saturday and Goddard knows he and his team-mates now have to repeat that level of performance week in and week out, starting tonight against Eastleigh.
“It was a good day. The team played very well, it was an important match for us for a number of reasons and being on TV just made it all the sweeter,” he said.
“It was a good day for everyone at the club and it is something we want to build on now. We need to improve on our consistency. We’ve had a few good results but have failed to kick-on in the following fixtures so hopefully we can do that this time.
“I think we turned the corner a week ago, we’ve been putting in some performances but the results just haven’t shown that.
“Everything just clicked on Saturday. The clean sheet was very pleasing and we looked a threat going forward pretty much every time we attacked which is obviously a positive, so there were a number of things that just worked a little bit better.
“I don’t think anything drastic was changed, it was just one of those days where a few weeks of good work came to the fore.”
Goddard was also thrilled to get off the mark at The County Ground on Saturday with his only previous goal for Town coming away at Shrewsbury Town last month.
“It was something that I had been thinking about and it was nice to score at The County Ground,” he continued.
“It was my first goal here in-front of the home fans and we haven’t done well enough here and that is something we’re keen to change.
“We want to make this place a bit of a fortress and hopefully Saturday was the start of that.
“We’ve had a few good results here, Rochdale being one of them, and there have been signs of us showing progress so it is about consistency now and putting it on the pitch on a regular basis.”
Looking ahead to tonight’s FA Cup First Round Replay, Goddard isn’t expecting an easy ride from Eastleigh but is confident Town have the quality to get the job done and secure their place in the next round of the famous competition.
“We saw in the first game that Eastleigh are a good side, they’ve got a big budget and some experienced players,” he added.
“It is not going to be easy.
“The pitch was a bit of a leveller, it was on TV and they were looking for an upset so everything was against us in the first game, but we did well in the second-half and we turned it around and tried to go on and win the game.
“We’ve got an opportunity here now to get into the next round and that’s something the club takes very seriously.
“The National League is a physical league but so is League One and the players in League One are quicker and sharper and they are all full-time as well which makes a difference, so hopefully we have an edge.
“It is about putting that into practice tonight and showing it.
“But, like I said, they are a good side so it is not going to be easy but we’re confident of getting the job done.”
