Elgin City assistant manager Stefan Laird pleased with Black & Whites’ 2-1 victory over Peterhead in cinch League 2 New Year derby at Borough Briggs
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00:00 You and Alan will be absolutely delighted to be your first win in charge of Elgant?
00:03 Yeah we are, delighted and we hope everybody else is as well.
00:07 The players put on an amazing performance today and the spirit,
00:10 togetherness and fight that they showed. If they continue to do that then they'll pick up points.
00:14 We're asking a lot of them, it's been a big change for a lot of them. We're asking them to cover a
00:19 lot more ground than previous they were covering and they've been really receptive to it and
00:23 hopefully everybody who came and watched the game today can see the beginnings of that starting to
00:28 come through. I thought we carried a real threat on the break, it looked really dangerous and
00:31 probably in the end should have won by more.
00:33 Make no mistake, you're up against a very good Peter Headside today, very dangerous lots going
00:37 forward and defiant defending, keeping them out until the last gas penalty kick and denying Tom a
00:43 clean sheet.
00:43 Yeah we've worked a lot without the ball in training in terms of the shape and the structure
00:48 and as we get more fitness into the boys we'll continue to move that five yards,
00:53 ten yards up the pitch as we cover more ground and press a wee bit higher.
00:57 They restricted a lot of good players today to limited chance, they had a great chance in the
01:02 sort of last minute and that makes a great save. I think apart from that, crosses into the box,
01:07 set pieces, in terms of clear cut opportunities they didn't cut us open an awful lot but they'll
01:14 do really well this season. They've got a really good group, some of them that we know really well
01:18 that are really dangerous so the players should be delighted and hopefully the fans go home
01:22 happy that they backed them from the start and the players repaid them today.
01:25 Two really well worked goals, the first one over Saint Russell Dinkle diving forward,
01:30 great chance for Ryan who put in a great show today and took his chance well.
01:34 Yeah there's a lot of young boys in our team so there's a lot of pressure on Russell,
01:40 Drapes, Jake, Coops to lead them and I thought Russell today was outstanding. I find myself
01:47 shouting that a lot in training and I think it's a bit of a running joke in the changing room
01:50 already but when we can find Russell on the break in the pocket either side of the central column
01:54 and he turns and he gets at people who look really, really dangerous. We've just got to work on the
01:58 movement and the athleticism now for boys to peel out and get in behind when we go and do that.
02:03 The second goal is a bit of individual technical excellence, a bit of quick thinking which again,
02:10 there's no breaks in training, it's ball back in straight away but the cross is fantastic and
02:14 Jonesy's made a great run, gets himself in front of the defender and scores and I think Russell
02:18 again could have had another near the end but he was absolutely superb. I don't think he got a man
02:26 of the match did he? He got my man of the match. Ryan got the man of the match. Yeah well Ryan was
02:31 excellent. Ryan played three different positions today which for a boy his age is not a mean feat
02:37 and scored a great goal, took it early and goalkeeper wasn't able to get down in time because
02:42 of that. And you speak about Jonesy, obviously you go with his experience from the start,
02:46 you've got younger, possibly quicker forwards on the bench but that experience and that strength
02:51 that he shows and the different kind of dimension that he gives you in attack really was important
02:55 to do. Yeah, to be honest, there's a brand of football that Alan wants the team to play
02:59 and that's not something that you can implement over a three-week period.
03:02 That's going to take a wee bit longer and we'll edge towards that and so having Jonesy there today
03:07 but we know we're going to spend a reasonable amount of time without the ball and asking the
03:11 players to be comfortable in doing that and controlling the game without the ball just
03:14 because you don't have possession doesn't mean you're not in control of the game. We're showing
03:18 them where we want them to go and trying to lock them into certain areas and big Jonesy gave us
03:22 that target today and we asked him to be a wee bit more physical, a wee bit more of a problem
03:26 and to try when he can. We know again it's not his game to spin and run in behind and
03:31 he gets the goal from that and it was thoroughly deserved for him. A couple of days time a transfer
03:34 window opens, I'm guessing you and Alan will be chatting the activity closely and looking
03:40 at the strength perhaps? Yeah absolutely, that would be the answer. I think there's
03:45 no secret that we need to and the boys need support so the board obviously won't probably
03:50 thank me and say that it's over to them to provide what the manager needs to go and give the players
03:54 that they've identified and if we get even half of those boys in not only will we be fighting but
04:01 we'll be looking even better and more dangerous going forward but we've got good players here
04:06 and it's not only important to bring in players that won't supplement them but to try and get a
04:10 couple of them tied down for next year and going forward. They're committed in training,
04:16 they've done really well and you couldn't ask any more of them today but like I said
04:21 that's sort of phase one that you're seeing there and we want to continue to try and step that off
04:26 the pitch as we go but it was a great foundation that we laid today and for me we thoroughly
04:32 deserved the victory.