Martin Wild speaks with Grant Holt
Record summer signing, Grant Holt, was delighted to get three points yesterday as Salop saw off Chesterfield by the odd goal in three. He accepted that sometimes the football would be pretty and other times scrappy. At the business end of the campaign, results were all important.
"We've talked a lot this week, and the manager's had words. We've done a lot of hard sessions in training and worked on some bits and bobs. Thankfully it's paid off and I'm sure if we put performances in like that every week, the fans would be happy.
"Confidence hasn't been a problem at home but away I don't know what it is. We've obviously talked a lot about it as has everybody else. Maybe we've talked too much about it, I don't know. If you look at some of the games - and I'm not including Bournemouth because we were really poor last week - we've maybe not got what we deserved. Like at Lincoln when we had to play with ten men but put in a great performance, the game at Chesterfield which we should have won, Rochdale was a similar thing and even Bradford where we dug in and only got a point. The manager's worked us hard and told us a few home truths and that's mainly to see if he could spark a reaction in his players. I think he got that today. The lads are excited in the dressing room; everyone's really happy with the win and we need to go on a little run now. We've got Chester coming here for a derby game on Tuesday which always adds a little bit extra, but if we play to anywhere near the levels we reached today every week, I've got no doubts we'll get promoted. We've got to start believing a little bit more. I think maybe 2-1 has flattered them a little bit today. I had a couple of chances and should have scored, and Benji missed a volley that I would have fancied him to do better with. We've been a little bit unlucky, but on Tuesday hopefully we'll score a few more goals and get another three points."
As Grant touched on the fortunes of the side, I asked if Lady Luck would play a big part in deciding the club's destiny between now and the end of the season. The visitors had landed a late free-kick on top of Luke Daniel's crossbar so the mood could have been entirely different.
"Well that's what makes football so great isn't it? It's not all about luck, though it can play a part, you're right. Sometimes, especially away from home, you'll let one in and think: 'here we go - it's happening again.' We've just got to get that out of our heads and start realising what a good team we are. The manager's talked about that all week. People don't realise the strength in depth we have here. There's three or four players sat in the stands today that would most likely walk into anybody's first team. Everyone works hard for each other. They're a great bunch of lads and we'll be doing all we can to bring success to the club."
Twelve wins have come at the Prostar Stadium with the team winning in every home game that they have scored first.
"When we score first we're very hard to beat. But you can't afford to rely on that all the time. We need to have belief in our abilities and develop a certain mental strength as well. When we go behind like we did here against Brentford, we need to dig deep and not allow the opponent to stretch their advantage like they did that day. We need to show the sort of character we did against Barnet here. We were two behind early doors but dragged ourselves back into it, and could have nicked it three or four two in the end."
The set pieces yesterday afternoon were greatly improved, and as a result Town's goal threat significantly increased. Both goals came from dead-ball situations and Holt recognised the importance of good deliveries.
"Strikers are only as good as the service we get really. We have some big lads up there who will spill blood for the cause. Jacko, Coughlan, Kelvin when he was playing, myself and Chadders. We'll all go in there and get hurt if we have to. If you don't get the delivery right though, it doesn't help. Fair play to Benji. He's the skipper and has held his hands up when his free-kicks haven't been right. We've all had a word with him this week 'cos he gets uptight and a bit edgy about things when he's not on his game. We've all tried to calm him down a bit and told him to try and relax a bit more. He's worked hard on his game this week and we've seen the rewards. Everyone knows what he's got in his locker. He's shown that today with the goal. It was a special strike and every time we get a free-kick in those kind of situations, they're made for someone of his ability."
Ben Davies may have been clutching the sponsors bubbly post-match - and deservedly so - but there were better performances from Paul Murray, Terry Dunfield and also Nick Chadwick, who is beginning to forge a nice little understanding with the man they call 'Superman.'
"There were some good individual performances out there," he said, "but it's a team game. I feel sorry sometimes for the midfield lads. The forwards have been too high up the pitch and the defence has sat too deep and it's made their jobs difficult. Our positional sense needs to be better. If we can squeeze the ball and take up better positions, the likes of Muzza and Terry only have to run 15 yards and not 35. That was better today and it reflected by how well the team played."
When Mike Jackson headed Town into a 19th minute lead, the league table had the team in fourth. When the visitors levelled seven minutes later, we had dropped to ninth!
"It shows you how tight the division is and we've all spoke about it. The manager set us a target before the Accrington game of eleven or twelve wins. We were poor last week but that's two chalked off and a good chance to get another win on Tuesday. That's what we need to take into the Luton game next week. I know the away form's not good but personally I think we've got our heads round that now. We've been worrying about every game but know that a little run of wins can take us a long way up the table. Everyone keeps talking about the play-offs but we're aiming for top three. It's all there to play for with Wycombe now showing signs of nervousness after threatening to run away with things. We've got some great games coming up against some top teams. The stats show we've got the second best record in the league against teams in the top half, and with Morecambe, Grimsby, Notts County all to come here, we just need a little run of wins and we'll be fine.
"When we play the better sides we tend to raise our game to that level. But you have to have something different in your locker. We have got some ugly players here in a sense. We've got good tacklers who aren't afraid to mix it. If you look at the Accrington game the other night, we won 2-0 and I've missed a howler to make it three. But at their place when they went two up early, they just sat so deep and soaked everything up on a horrible pitch. In the end we've got frustrated and couldn't break them down. That's something we'll need to address in the run-in and I'm pretty happy that we'll get promoted if we can do that."
There wasn't much movement in League Two yesterday but the team are still very handily placed despite an indifferent spell. With another home game to come in two days, that table could make for even better reading on Tuesday evening.
