Town Head Coach Luke Williams gave his reaction to his side’s 0-0 draw away at AFC Wimbledon to the media in the wake of the game…
ON THE RESULT AND PERFORMANCE:
“It is pleasing because I think the opposition were excellent and they are a very tough team to play against, especially here.
“We’ve shown that we can absolutely dominate opponent after opponent with the ball and we’ve shown today that we can roll our sleeves up and have a fight, even if we’re outgunned and outmuscled.
“The players are full of heart, they are well organised, they know their jobs, they are together and they’ve shown that.
“We’ve shown it in the past, away at Gillingham for example, so the group are capable of playing in different ways.
“I think it is fair to say they’ve shown that today.
“We can pass the ball and we can create chance after chance but, at this point, we’ve not won enough games and I need to protect the group and I need to show them and help them to be able to stay in a game longer and make it far more difficult for our opponents to score against us.”
ON AFC WIMBLEDON’S FIRST-HALF PENALTY:
“It is quite simple - it is not a penalty. There is no more to say, no less, sometimes the referee makes a mistake and on this occasion he did.
“I think the player apologised to Conor Thomas, which is gracious of him, but it wasn’t a penalty.”
ON LAWRENCE VIGOUROUX’S PENALTY SAVE:
“You need everybody to be at the top of their game and when you’ve got a goalkeeper like Lawrence who can help you out tremendously, again he stepped up at the crucial moment to make a save.”
ON WHAT TOWN COULD HAVE DONE BETTER:
“We set up to have more players behind the ball than we ordinarily would and try to break into space very quickly.
“I think the only thing that was missing was maybe a final pass and a final finish – that was the only thing I would have preferred us to have done better.”
ON CHANGING TO A 4-2-3-1 FORMATION:
“I felt I needed to protect my group and to stop them feeling like they can’t keep a clean sheet.
“I tried to help them to have more players behind the ball, not to commit as many players into the attack and shorter distances between us defensively.
“I thought they did that and they’ve come away from home and kept a clean sheet. I think it is five points on the road in three games, which isn’t a terrible return overall.”
ON NATHAN DELFOUNESO LEADING THE LINE ON HIS OWN:
“Parts of it he would have enjoyed because he got more grass to run into and it looked like him and Sean Murray would be able to link-up and provide for one another, but they didn’t quite make that final pass.
“There were elements of the game that are more difficult when you play like that and there are elements that are more enjoyable for a frontman, but we’ve had Nathan higher up the pitch with lots of players close to him dominating games and we’ve not managed to win enough games in that manner.
“There was a change there and something new.”
ON BRAD BARRY’S RETURN TO THE SQUAD:
“Brad is not quite fully match fit but it is very encouraging to see him back on the pitch and you know what you are going to get with Bradley. He’s going to give every single ounce so when he’s fully fit he’ll be back in contention for playing.
“That will be another important player back in the squad.”
