Gaffer's thoughts after the Bury win
Town finished 2-1 winners over Bury in a game which saw Town put more distance between themselves and the drop zone.It was a performance from Town that saw good pressure and good chances topped off by goals in the second half by Tyler Roberts and Freddie Ladapo.
After the game manager Paul Hurst spoke to the press to give his thoughts on the game.
“I enjoyed parts of that performance I must say”, said Paul.
“At times it was a bit scrappy because of the way that it was being played and there were a lot of free-kicks.
“We started pretty well but then it got scrappy but overall I felt like we were the best chances and the best passages of play.
“It should have been a comfortable end to the game but when they put the ball into the box like they do it can cause errors and it ended with a nervous last few minutes but in the end we saw that out pretty well.
“The disappointment is to concede a goal but it doesn’t happen very often here.
“We won’t get carried away but it was a good victory but it would have been nice to have the cleansheet.”
It was another good performance from West Brom loanee Tyler Roberts who started the game alongside Stefan Payne in the Town forward line.
He put in another encouraging performance and topped it off with his first goal in Town colours.
“He’s working hard and I think he’s starting to find his feet with us”, said Paul.
“In the second half last week I felt he showed what a good player he can be and in training this week he’s shown well.
“I had a decision to make with the strikers today and I could have gone with any of them to start today but over the last few days training I saw he was ready.
“At half-time I said to him he could end up being the match winner as he kept getting on the ball in some nice areas.
“Junior has done well to set him up but it’s a great finish with a controlled side foot but with plenty of pace on it and that should do him the world of good.”
Town’s second goal came from Freddie Ladapo who had come on as an early replacement for the injured Stefan Payne.
It was another goal for the Crystal Palace loanee who has been in good goalscoring form since joining Town.
“I didn’t start with Freddie and I am sure some people will have questioned that decision but I don’t think Freddie had his best game at Gillingham and he’s honest enough to acknowledge that”, said Paul.
“He was unlucky not to be in the starting line-up today but he was ready and everyone will have their moment.
“He took goal extremely well, it was a big unfortunate to drop for him but he’s taken it well when it has.
“He’s had a couple of other chances but if he keeps going onto the pitch and scoring goals it makes it harder for me to leave him out.”
Stefan Payne started his first game for Town but only lasted 10 minutes after going down with an injury to his foot.
Town are monitoring the situation and are hoping it isn’t a reoccurrence of a metatarsal problem he’s had previously.
“He’s been for an x-ray which isn’t showing anything up but speaking to Skitty that’s not anything definite.” said Paul.
“He’s landed and the defender has landed on his foot when he has landed it and that is the way that metatarsal injuries come up.
“He’s had that before and that’s the fear but fingers crossed it’s not that.
“I was disappointed for Stef as he was getting into the game and then that happened.”
Bury grabbed a late consolation goal but the manager was pleased with the way his side defended during the 90 minutes.
“Overall we defended well throughout the team and that was encouraging”, said Paul.
“Going back to Tyler the way he started the game are the things i would like to see week in week out, his work and closing down was excellent.
“We want the defending to start from the front as that makes our defenders jobs easier.
“I thought they did very well against Pope and Vaughan, one of the best strike partnerships in the league, but I thought Sads was excellent and Toto had a quieter day which I don’t mind.”
The win sees Town move further away from the drop zone but the Town manager isn’t taking anything for granted.
With games away to Scunthorpe and Peterborough coming up he wants his side to continue their recent good form.
“We’ve closed the gap quite quickly but that gap can as quickly go the other way”, said Paul.
“There are more teams in it now so that is the positive for me.
“But I’ll keep saying it, until we are mathematically safe there is a lot of hard work to still be done.
“That starts again next week against a team who are at the right end of the league and who have been outstanding all season.
“It will be a really really good test to see if we can compete and see how far we have come.”