Jacko’s thoughts after the 1-1 draw at home to Brentford
Town went into a tough looking home game against league leaders Brentford on the back of a run of poor home results. Six straight defeats had seen Graham Turner step down from the manager’s seat and Mike Jackson step up to the task.
His side put in a great performance over the 90 minutes and worked their socks off to try and put an end to that awful home run of form.
Things looked to be going ok until a debatable penalty midway through the second half but Town stuck to their task and were rewarded with a great strike from Tom Eaves on 90 minutes.
After the game caretaker manager Mike Jackson spoke to the waiting press to give his thoughts on the game:”It’s pleasing and pleasing for the staff and players as it settles everyone down following our recent home form.
“It wasn’t a great day conditions wise with the wind, the heavy pitch and the rain but I think we deserved that point.
“Their keeper has made a couple of good saves and we’ve forced some good crosses into their box.
“It’s just the start for us and I feel we can play a lot better, we were a bit sloppy with the ball but credit to the lads as they kept going.”
The spirits in the Greenhous Meadow were raised on 90 minutes when Tom Eaves finally got the reward for another game of hard work and endeavour. Tom showed good strength and determination to get through the Brentford defence before firing in a superb shot from the edge of the box:”It’s about time that Tom has scored, but credit to him as he needed that goal.
“He is a confidence player and he showed good glimpses last week so I’m made up for him as it wasn’t easy playing against Brentford today.
“We’ve asked him to do a lot of work and sometimes he does get some stick so today I’m really pleased with what he’s done.”
The result stops a run of six home defeats on the bounce but with minutes of the game remaining it looked like Town might have extended that run to seven. Jacko revealed that a few changes to the formation gave Brentford more to think about and that might have helped the result:”You are looking at the game and looking at the clock and you are thinking what you can do.
“I had a plan in my head that if we were struggling then I’d go with three at the back and put Jon Taylor up with the front two and to make Brentford think more.
“In the end it’s sort of come off and I’m pleased with the way we ended the game strongly.”
The turning point in the game was when Brentford were awarded a penalty midway through the second half. He didn’t get a clear view of the incident but was more concerned about his sides failure to follow in after Chris Weale’s initial save:”I couldn’t really see much of it and haven’t really looked at it, someone has said might have been a little bit harsh.
“If it’s a pen then it’s a pen, it’s been given and then Wealey has done great to save but then I’m disappointed that the Brentford lad has got on the rebound and we haven’t so that is something we need to get better from.”
The Town dressing room was a much happier place after the game and Jacko hopes that the fans can also take some heart and hope from the result:”To them it’s a big relief and there’s a good feeling in the changing room this evening.
“What we now have to do is use this result as a springboard and go to Sheffield United and improve again on today’s performance
“I think that we are capable of doing that and with the new players who have come in really helps.
“I’m really pleased for the lads and for the fans, they might have seen the penalty go in and think ‘here we go again’ but I hope today shows that we have a little bit of fighting spirit and that we are up for the challenge.
“It is a challenge and it might go down to the wire so we have to make sure that we get results like that.
“I hope the fans go home with a little bit more hope, I don’t think we’ve done as well today as we should have done. I’m not going to get carried away with it but I’m delighted with the last minute equaliser.”
There were run outs for the new faces in Town’s squad with Bahrudin Atajic, Fraser Fyvie, Nathaniel Mendez-Laing and Joseph Mills all getting their first run outs at the Greenhous Meadow:”Atajic looked neat and tidy on the ball but needs to get fitter, I’ve spoken about this before but the problem with loan players is they come from the U21 leagues and it takes a while to get that match fitness up.
“Fraser did ok again and he’ll continue to get fitter. Mendez-Laing came on put himself about a bit but with him it’s about finding his position as he likes to drift about a little.
“Joseph Mills did alright and showed a bit of pace when he came on and they all give us that extra energy to make the opposition think about things a little bit.”
The attention now switches to next Saturday’s trip to Bramall Lane and a massive game against Sheffield United:”All the games are going to be massive and we’ll have the same question in every interview until the end of the season.
“They have a big game against Fulham in the cup on Wednesday and I can’t see their pitch being much better than ours was today so we’ll have to deal with that.
“We will be ready for the game, we did a lot of preparation for the Brentford game and I hope the fans can see that.”