Jack Roles returned to Crawley Town from his loan spell at Gateshead and has played a vital part in recent games as Reds look to escape relegation. Here he talks about playing right wing back, his time at Gateshead and what Scott Lindsey has changed since he has returned.
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00:00Jack, thank you for joining us. We'll talk a little bit about how you've come back to
00:05Cawley first, but firstly we'll talk about the game we've got coming up at the weekend.
00:10The big one against Northampton, what's the mood been like in the dressing room ahead
00:13of that one?
00:14It's been really positive, as you could imagine. A really good win against Exeter on Monday.
00:20I think we played really well, played as a team. I think you could say we learnt our
00:26lesson from the time we played them previous, where we were 4-1 up at half-time.
00:30I threw it away and drew 4-4, and this time it was 3-1 up at half-time, and that was
00:33mentioned during the game. I remember what happened last time, and I feel like it was
00:39a mature performance. I think it could have been a little bit of frustration in the crowd
00:43where we wasn't going forward and scoring more goals, but the main thing at this stage
00:47of the season is three points, and as a young group I feel like we showed some real maturity
00:52in the game.
00:53Yeah, and I suppose there's a lot to manage expectation-wise, as you say, with the fans.
00:58You always want to score as many goals as possible. Ahead of the weekend, it's obviously going
01:03to be a difficult one, because it's difficult in the sense of we need to win, but at least
01:07we know that's all we need to do. So is that sort of a relief in the dressing room that
01:10you're not going to have to worry about checking scores midway through, because regardless,
01:15if we don't win, it almost doesn't matter.
01:16Yeah, exactly. We need to do what we know we can do, and that's win on Saturday, and hopefully
01:23everything else can take care of itself. It all went for us on Monday, and that was a
01:29must-win game as well, and if we didn't win, it would have been the same situation. So look,
01:33we're going to keep fighting, and we won't stop. We've put ourselves in this position, and
01:40only that can get us out of it. So yeah, hopefully we can get the win on Saturday, and that's
01:45all we'll be trying to do.
01:46Are you going to be wanting to know in the... Obviously the Bristol one's a bit different
01:49because they kick off at half-twelve, so we're going to know that regardless. With the Burton
01:53fixture, are you going to be wanting to know the score during the game, or is it just almost
01:56going to be like a, right, come on, we've done enough at full-time, tell us straight
02:00away sort of thing?
02:01Yeah, I think it'd be one of them where just after the game, I'm sure the guff would let
02:04us know what's going on, because as you said, we have to win, so if we're winning and
02:10Burton are winning, it's not going to change anything. If we're winning and Burton are losing,
02:13it's not going to change anything. We just have to win, so that's all we can control for
02:1790 minutes on the pitch, and when we come in, hopefully we'll get the good news that
02:21they've dropped points, and then we've taken it down to the last game.
02:26Yeah, and obviously now we'll talk about how you come back to Corey. Firstly, talk to us a
02:31little bit about when you heard, because before the Stevenage game, it was fairly late notice,
02:34wasn't it? You were still up in Gateshead on, what, Thursday, Friday?
02:36Yeah, so I got the call on Thursday, and we had Stevenage on the Saturday, so it was Thursday
02:46evening I got the call. I travelled down overnight, which was about a five and a half hour journey
02:53I think it was. I didn't train on the Friday, and I met the lads at the hotel on Saturday
02:58morning for pre-match on the meetings, and I saw the gaffer, and it was really good, gave
03:04me a big hug, and just said, welcome back, and on the bench, and it was just really good
03:10to be part of the boys again, like the mood in the camp then. I know they'd just lost to
03:15Peterborough, but they'd won two games previous, and everyone was high spirits, and it's just
03:19been a real breath of fresh air being back here. The place has got like a real spring in its
03:25step. I know we lost, I think it was three in a row, but you know we're playing good football,
03:30and we know whatever happens, we're going to go down fighting, and hopefully we can
03:35take it down to the last game.
03:36Yeah, I suppose coming back, obviously your ambition is to impress the manager that you've
03:42worked with before. I think it's safe to say that you've probably done that. Was it even
03:46in your sort of imagination that within the first few games being back, because it takes
03:50a while for, you know, obviously you played with us at the start of the season, but it does
03:53take a while for players to embed themselves in the team, but you seem to have done that already,
03:56so have you almost even taken yourself by surprise in that sense?
03:59A little bit, yeah. I feel like in football it's always about chance and a bit of luck
04:04and a bit of opportunity, and you know we've had a couple of injuries, so I guess that sped
04:09up the process a little bit. And the manager told me I'd be playing right wing back against
04:15Birmingham away, and I think some people would see that as a bit of a time to go in their shell,
04:23but I was with the gaffer in the office and I was rubbing my hands together going, that's
04:26fine, like, ready, I'll do that, no problem. And you know, we got a really good result
04:30there, we could have actually won the game and that would have been perfect, but yeah,
04:35kept to my place in the team for extra time, and I feel like we played really well there
04:40as well, so hopefully we'll do really well against Northampton and just keep going to
04:44the end of the season.
04:45Yeah, I was going to ask you a little bit about that sort of right wing back position,
04:48because I bet when you were recalled that was the last position that you probably thought,
04:51I mean, in goal, that you were going to play, obviously we know what your attributes are,
04:54you like to pass and you like to score goals. From right wing back, it's almost a different
04:58role, isn't it? But it's one of those, do you want to see yourself as the Trent that
05:02can do everything from that position?
05:05No, I wouldn't say I can do everything. It's been really enjoyable, it's something I've never
05:10ever done before. Yeah, it's just taken me a bit by surprise how kind of well I've done
05:18in the position over the two games, because it's been two hard-ish games, and I feel like
05:23I've held my own a bit, and I've been quite proud of myself, because I've never done it
05:29before, and it's been quite unnatural, but when you've got Smudge on the sideline and
05:33Dicko just talking you through the game and giving you ideas, and then the manager comes
05:38in half-time, because he's been in the stands for the last two games, he can see a bigger
05:41picture and he can tell what to do. Yeah, so with all the help around, it made it a lot
05:46easier, and I just want to play as many minutes as possible, it doesn't matter if it's in
05:51the middle or on the right. I think I played up front under the gathering at the start of
05:56the season against Brighton, so yeah, I've kind of done a bit of everything this season.
06:01Perfect. Brilliant. Going back to Gateshead, how did you find that experience, and has it
06:06changed you in any way as a player, do you think?
06:08Yeah, definitely. I really liked my time there. Started really well, played I think it was
06:1412 games for Gateshead, and it was a really, really nice club, really good club, really good
06:19players and good staff there. I feel like I've matured as a player, even though it was only
06:26two months, I feel like I learnt the game a lot more than I have done in the recent few years,
06:33and yeah, just added a few things to my game that I probably didn't have before.
06:37Yeah, and how has Scott changed the place? We all know what Scott's like, we've seen him before,
06:43you've worked with him before, but coming back with Scott in charge, how had the place changed,
06:48and what's he done with the players to give them that boost in this final running?
06:53It's hard, like, Gaffer's just a gaffer, like, he's so bubbly, so energetic, he makes you just,
07:01he makes you happy, he makes you want to play for him,
07:03and he just brings a breath of fresh air, like, energy around the place,
07:08and he gives you, he gives you that freedom to play and express yourself.
07:14Seeing it, it's been really enjoyable being back under him. I know how he's played,
07:17I was with him for 18 months before, before I went out, or, yeah, a bit longer than that,
07:22before I went out on loan, so, yeah, I know how he plays, he knows how I play, so we've got a good
07:27relationship.
07:28Yeah, and going into these last two games, obviously, you know what you've got to do.
07:31Can you do it?
07:32Of course we can, like, we're cruelly, no one thought we could get promoted last year,
07:36no one gave us a chance this year, and with two games left, we're still fighting.
07:41Yeah, we would rather be in a better position, but look, that's football,
07:45we can't dwell on the past, we can only focus on the next two games, and
07:47if it's not meant to be, it's not meant to be, but it won't be through the thought of trying,
07:52and we're all going to leave everything on that pitch on Saturday, and if we get through that game,
07:56we'll leave everything at Shrewsbury away.
07:57And what's your message to the fans going into the last home game of the season?
08:02Come and support us, you know, we're, I know I think our work ethic might have been questioned
08:09at times this year, but I don't think that'll be a problem, it'll be full attack in play,
08:15and everyone giving everything to get the three points.
08:18Brilliant, thanks Jake.
08:19Thanks.
08:20Thanks.