Micky's thoughts after the 2-0 win over Chesterfield
New Town chief Micky Mellon started his managerial career at the Greenhous with a 2-0 home win in today’s friendly against Chesterfield. It was a performance that was extremely pleasing on the eye and one that had the Town manager rightly enthused as he met the local media after the game.
“We’re pleased with where we are at the minute as a group,” he said. “We showed today that with the improvements we’ll make before the start of the season that we have some talented footballers here.
"It’s always nice to score goals because it gets you guys off our backs straight away,” said Mellon with a wry smile. “We’ve ticked a few boxes with goals, a clean sheet and a home victory so it’s happy days. It was a terrific game for us at this stage of the season and it gave the fans a chance to see the talent we have in the building.”
Micky was asked about the all round contribution of returning striker James Collins, with Collo marking his return with a 36th minute header which put Town in front. But the manager, although pleased with his performance, didn’t want to single any one player out for praise: “As a group, considering we’ve only been back eight days and in many ways have only just met, to turn in a performance like that, we have to be very pleased with where we’re at,” said Mellon. “We can make it better. We know already the areas we need to work on to tidy things up. It was great to see the fans here and hopefully they’ll be excited about the team we’ve got.”
Mellon said he appreciated the warm reception he got from the Town fans prior to kick off and reiterated his desire to give the club’s supporters a team that they could be proud of. He also paid tribute to the triallists on show this afternoon who all gave a good account of themselves. One such triallist was Andy Robinson who was magnificent throughout the second half having been introduced at the break, and Mellon spoke in some length about the former Swansea, Leeds and Tranmere man: “I know Robbo really well and have a personal relationship with him,” said the Town boss. “I know what he’s capable of and he’s a real crowd pleaser and he’s also a good all round little guy. I can’t say now what we’re going to do and what we’re not going to do but certainly the triallists have done themselves no harm nor have the young lads that came on today, so I was really pleased for them.”
The teamsheets named Craig Durran amongst the Salop subs but Mellon confirmed later that it was in fact Craig Curran, and jokingly suggested that it was a secret inclusion to throw people off the scent. Durran was also on target and Micky said that he’d tracked his career as a young boy and that he was one of the most committed trainers he’d ever seen. Curran is a striker and was most recently at Limerick over in Ireland. “He loves the game and looks after himself. He’s up for the challenge and it was a good performance from him,” said Mellon.
Micky ended by saying how much he was looking forward to the visit of Premier League West Brom on Tuesday night. He’s expecting a completely different type of game but is delighted to have a side of the calibre of Albion visiting the Meadow for what he termed as a “worthwhile training exercise.”