Newry City manager Darren Mullen spoke to us after his side defeated Bangor 2-1 at The Showgrounds tonight.
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00:00Darren, obviously happy changing room tonight. How pleased are you with that result and the performance you got from the lads tonight?
00:07Yeah, considering I suppose over the last couple of weeks we played really well against Carrick and I thought we would have taken that into the Ballyclare game and we didn't.
00:15We didn't turn up last week which was hugely disappointing and look we spoke during the week, we can't drop our heads, we just need to get back at it and we did.
00:23Look we made six changes tonight and they worked, sometimes they don't but they worked tonight so yeah, brilliant win against the league leaders, thought we were well deserving of it.
00:32Dug deep when we had to, did really well in the first half, we just had to defend a wee bit more in the second half but we knew that was going to come from Bangor but look we weathered it and yeah, well deserved.
00:42Delighted for the lads because they put a shift in as I've always said, it's a good changing room and we just need a wee bit of luck along the way and a bit more quality added and we've done that in the transfer window and thankfully that showed tonight.
00:53You've touched on it already but it was almost two games in one. First half you were on the front foot creating chances and obviously got 2-0 ahead.
01:00Second half as you touched on had a batting down the hatches a bit defensively but you have to be proud of that because you showed nearly two ways of winning a game haven't you here tonight in that performance?
01:09Yeah because going 2-0 up, saying it's a dirty scoreline, it's difficult and then you concede and you think it's a long half but they did what they had to do in terms of defending.
01:19It became more of a counter-attacking game then and I thought we maybe could have done better in the final third in terms of picking them off and going and getting another one but you can't complain at this stage.
01:30I thought we were excellent. The lads that came in and made their debut all contributed to it. Really good young Larkin in there. You're thinking is he going to be nervous? He fit for it.
01:38You threw him in and I thought he was outstanding along with Tommy and Ben in the middle.
01:43When Bangor pulled that goal back, probably at times earlier this season, when you're put under pressure the team, nearly a second goal and a third goal is almost expected but the opposite happened and the team steadied itself really well.
01:54Does that speak to the mentality of the group?
01:56It does. We spoke at half-time. We said if they score, don't panic. Just deal with it. We're going to have to defend. It's going to be tough. We knew the second half wouldn't be easy.
02:05They would come out and got us and I thought every header, every tackle, second balls, I thought we were excellent in that regard.
02:12It is pleasing. Sometimes when you dig a result like that out, it's not comfortable to the team. We'd like to be winning by a bigger margin but I think the manner of it and who the opposition were
02:24and considering how poor we were last week, it's a big win for us.
02:27You've spoken about the new players were thrown in tonight. Over the course of the last few months, you've been talking about the importance of the January window, January transfer window, getting these boys in and getting the sort of style of football you want.
02:37Have you seen that? I know it's very, very early days but are you starting to see that with the recruitment you've made already?
02:44I wanted to change the profile of the player. We've always been built in high intensity, a lot of running, effort and working hard. The players we brought in have done that. Young lads that will run for you, chase down, hassle players.
02:58It's a long time since we've had many lads that have had cramp. For me, that was a good sign. They ran themselves into the ground. Jamie Dorn did his bit. Very, very pleasing. There's still a lot of work to do. We're not getting carried away. We're still in a position we don't want to be in but that's a big result for us.
03:20Can this now become the benchmark? There still is a long way to go which you've touched on but you've beaten the league leaders here tonight. You've put in a performance like this. Is that the message to the group of players now that they know what they're capable of and you want to go on and build on this?
03:31It has to be. It shouldn't need me to tell the lads that you shouldn't be able to go and turn a performance in like this and then drop it for next week. It can't happen. That was the message after the game. We set ourselves high standards here. We need to maintain that. I'm really pleased with the work rate. Not just the quality in the manner of it but the work rate. We chased everything down and we have to do that from now to the end of the season.