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Interviews

Pre Accrington Stanley | Steve Cotterill

16 February 2023

Interviews

Pre Accrington Stanley | Steve Cotterill

16 February 2023

Manager Steve Cotterill chatted to the press ahead of our trip to Accrington Stanley.

Town head to the Wham Stadium on Saturday on a seven-match unbeaten run in League One.

Following six straight wins, we secured an excellent point at Exeter on Tuesday.

That point was secured despite us coping without three centre-backs for the final 20 minutes - with Taylor Moore coming off injured and Tom Flanagan (suspended) and Matt Pennington (injured) already unavailable.

Speaking ahead of the trip to Lancashire, Steve gave an update on the fitness of both Tom and Matt.

And the boss also praised the resilience of his players for the way they have coped with the number of injuries that have hit Town this season.

ON ACCRINGTON: 

"I think John (Coleman) has had a really tough job there this year because they have picked up a lot of injuries to their defenders. 

"They will probably have a couple of them back on Saturday. And maybe another midfield player. But they have been through a lot of injuries this year. 

"Whilst they are not as high up in the league as they have been in previous years, they are still a tough nut to crack. 

"I think they have done just as good a job there as they have done in previous years, that’s John and his staff."

ON HOW EVERYONE IS AFTER EXETER: 

"Everyone is okay. It's a long trip (to Exeter) but there is nothing you can do about it – it's the way the fixtures have fallen. 

"We are back on the road again Saturday morning. It’s not ideal. Whoever invented two home, two away – I don’t see it myself. 

"But still, we have to change something so someone has got the ability to show in their job they are doing something I suppose." 

ON THE TEAM’S RESILIENCE: 

"Any good team has got to have that resilience. Any good team. You will see [that] the teams above us have good resilience. 

"You have got to have that because it’s not going to be great games that you’re going to be involved in every week. 

"You have to show that mental toughness to stop the ball going into the back of your net. 

"And you have to try really, really, hard at the things you have worked on to make sure you get it in the back of their net. 

"I think resilience is just one thing that a good, successful, football team needs."

ON LOSING DEFENDERS BEFORE AND DURING GAMES: 

"I think that has happened to us a couple of times this season – where we have felt sorry for ourselves. 

"And we have brought that up and we have discussed that. I suppose that is part of the process. 

"I'm not surprised now that when we have lost someone to an injury we have been tougher mentally. 

"I think we had those scenarios earlier in the season and it did affect us and we did feel sorry for ourselves. 

"I think that is showing great improvement by the squad and their mental toughness in those moments."

ON TAYLOR MOORE:

"It's still really, really, early so I genuinely wouldn’t know where he is at this moment in time. 

"Maybe it’s not as bad as we first thought. But that doesn’t necessarily rule him in or rule him out on Saturday."

ON MATT PENNINGTON: 

"We still don’t know because every time I think he might be alright, he’s not alright. 

"At this moment in time I’ve got him out of my thoughts. I need to wait and see on that. 

"It’s a concussion injury. The protocol that we went through with him on the day was fine. He ticked all of those boxes which is why he went back on the pitch. 

"After that he felt groggy and didn’t train. Now he’s been training, he then felt groggy. 

"But then he has trained and trained and not felt groggy. It’s very much a wait-and-see one at the moment. 

"I have pencilled him in so many times over the last week or so and ended up rubbing him out. 

"I don’t have to think too much about the team today (Thursday). I need to see how we are tomorrow." 

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