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00:00Connor Callum, 1-1 draw against Roffey, obviously gutting conceding the late equaliser, especially when it played well and the three points felt like they really were there to take today, weren't they?
00:13Yeah, 100%. I thought the performance was actually really good. Literally, from the first minute all the way until the counter-attack they got us on the score, I really thought we were superb, more than deserved three points.
00:29I think if you ask Roffey, they'll be absolutely delighted that they've come away with points, but obviously it does feel a little bit like two points dropped. But the performance, it was really good today. You can't ask much more than that, but you need to be at that level every second of every game because you can get punished if you switch off for even a second.
00:54As I say, lots of positives with the performance, but it's just one of those things, I guess, a young side learn when you're 1-0 up right at the end. Don't need to go searching for that second maybe and just manage those last couple of minutes maybe?
01:06Yeah, we just spoke to that. We've got a young side, obviously we've made it all our subs, which is a young bench as well. We obviously tried to do that to try and win the game and then in the end it probably was something that cost us at least having Cable at the ball and give it away a couple of times, but also we had five beyond them, which means that you're then susceptible to a counter-attack, which is difficult, but we've just got to learn from it as players.
01:32It's a little bit frustrating as managers, we don't feel like we could have done much more, but in the end, we have to just take the point and move on, which feels like a loss rather than a two-point strike. It feels like we've lost all points, but we haven't. It's another game unbeaten, seven unbeaten, so we've just got to try and pick the positives. We've got a bit of a break now, which we probably need and we don't need it with how I feel right now, but we've just got to move on.
01:53It's another game unbeaten, seven unbeaten. Roughly the other side in the play-off mix as well, you've had the better of them performance-wise today, got a point, still four ahead of them. There's plenty of positives to take from that, isn't there?
02:06Yes, obviously, there's a lot of positives to take from the game. I thought we controlled the game really fluid, really dominant to be honest with you. I don't really remember them having a spell longer than two or three minutes in our half, where it felt like we were in their half for a lot of the game.
02:21So, yes, there's a lot of positives. They haven't gained anything on us. It just is quite a bit of a pill to swallow at the moment. Just the way it all happened and obviously conceding so late is always such a gut-punch.
02:39What was the message at half-time? You were looking bright, chances were there, so what was more the same?
02:47Well, we spoke a couple of things about in-possession and out-of-possession. In-possession, it was more just when we break through that first line playing forward a little bit quicker, trying to put it behind and actually attack rather than it felt like a couple of times we were getting the ball, breaking their first line of pressure and then just wasn't really then progressing the ball out of the pitch, which then allowed them time to get back in.
03:04So, we spoke about that. We also spoke about once the ball moved, we need to move a little bit quicker as well. Although we felt like we had a lot of control, me and Conor probably were focused on the four or five times where they did get out of our pressure, which we don't want to get any, which is obviously a little bit unrealistic.
03:19But also, we just want to make sure the lads are on it all the time and we feel if we can do them things, we can even control the game a bit more. They had a few small chances in the first half that could have made something of. So, yeah, we just needed to try and sustain that pressure a little bit more, which we felt we did second half. I thought they dropped off a little bit more, which only made it more difficult.
03:38But I still feel like we probably could have had one or maybe another one just to make us more comfortable, which I think the lads were trying to get. But in the end, one nil was enough. It didn't need to be two, but it's all good.
03:49Obviously, that pressure is something you work on, isn't it? It's part of your identity really, isn't it? That pressing game, isn't it?
03:55We work on it relentlessly. Even on Thursday night, we've got a two-hour session with the lads. Thursday's just gone and it's two hours' worth of high-intensity pressing, reaction pressing and making sure that the boys recognise that every time they are with us, that's the mindset and the mentality you have.
04:15It puts a lot of fear into teams and it panics a lot of teams. You have to be really mentally strong as a team to continue to play and try and break pressure when a team are that aggressive on you. That's what we want and it's a style of football that excites us, it really excites us.
04:32We love coaching it. I think the whole time we were in management, I don't really see us changing because that's what we always wanted to be as players. That's how we always wanted our teams to play. It's just natural to take that into account.
04:47You got that goal you deserved in the second half to take the lead. It was a good bit of quick thinking there, short corner to Liam Kimbo, who's just seen loads of space on the edge of the box there and finished it. Was that just something the players spotted, you spotted?
04:59I think we spotted it to be fair. They left three up every time and then when we took another one out, they left two up on the outside so they couldn't possibly mark the man in the middle and Liam. It ended up sacrificing the man on the edge. We pulled Bertie out and he played it. In the end, they dropped another one back. We always say if they leave three up, we should play short. It was just one of those things.
05:19I think it was a great strike from the skipper as well. We found it was probably the only place on the goal where he could see. It was a great strike. What we deserved, we just couldn't see out unfortunately.
05:31They've obviously got some good players themselves, Ruffey. Positives of how well you played today and a bit of a break now until a week on Tuesday for Pompidou Senior Cup, United Services and Portsmouth. How do you use this period leading up to that?
05:46Obviously, we know the US quite well from Wessex League days. I actually think the break after that might actually be quite a good thing. When you get something so gutting, if you do manage to have a bit of time away to then forget about it. To be honest, even having a cup game allowing you to forget about it even more could potentially be a good thing for us.
06:13We'll go into that game with full respect to the US. They can definitely give us upsetting results, but we'll be bang on that game in 10 days' time, fully rested. The boys, we expect to put in an intense, aggressive performance and try and dominate the game and progress through.
06:33Obviously, you know them well from the Wessex days. Then it'll be Hayward's Heath in the league. That'll be one to look forward to, obviously, where they are at the top of the league. That'll be a real game to relish.
06:41I don't know what the results were today, but I think they're top of the league. We went and watched them twice this season. I've been impressed both times. Really dominant. Tried to control the game to us. Push their full-backs inside and keep good width. We've seen enough. We feel like we can hurt them as well. It's important to remember that we're on tight as well. We have confidence that we will cause them problems as well. I'm sure they'll cause us some issues.
07:06These are the games you want to play in, be a part of. They're a really good side, as well as I've seen at Step 5 in terms of the organisation and stuff like that. We look forward to that challenge and hopefully we can rise up to it, which I'm sure they will.
07:20And the fact that you're going so well in the play-offs, they'll know that they're in for a tough game as well, won't they?
07:25Yeah, absolutely.