5:26pm Monday 8th March 2010
LAST Sunday morning brought a phone call from Craig Rocastle explaining that he has had two offers of good contracts from Sweden and the USA.
I did very well to get Craig to come to FGR but was unable to offer him anything better than a non-contract until the end of April.
He is well within his rights to look after his family with a lot more money and long term contract, and to better his career at a higher standard, so we all wish Craig well and we move on.
Tuesday evening saw me at a game watching players for the future. It also saw Mike Fowler play another 90 minutes for the Reserves so he is getting nearer and nearer to starting for the First team.
All through the week we worked extremely hard on the basics of defending as a team, getting behind the ball and playing narrow. The introduction of the experienced Craig Armstrong into the back four will certainly help us in our endeavours to climb the league and the improvement in talking and organising was very noticeable in training.
We also concentrated on getting the ball out wide to our two wingers Platt and Powell and looking to get lots of ball and bodies in the opposition penalty area. The finishing was the best it has been since I arrived. The one area my players must improve on, is their concentration when we go through set plays. This is a vital part of the game and yet we still don’t seem to grasp the full importance of it. So many goals are a result of set plays whether it be directly or indirectly. We must improve our mind set to this.
So we arrived at the New Lawn in good spirits and quietly confident that we could cause an upset against third-placed York City. The Minstermen pinned us back for the first 15 minutes with a strong wind behind them and yet the team stood firm and defended resolutely and with passion. Every single player tackled and tracked and did all of the ugly things we are always talking about.
We then started to make inroads and Powell scored an excellent individual goal and we then looked in control only to concede from a cross just before half-time. Armstrong was feeling his hamstring tighten so we took no risks with all of the games coming up and I introduced Oli Thorne, who had been feeling his groin in the week.
I felt we had much the better of the second half and it was Thorne who popped up with the deserved winner. I felt the passion and energy of the whole squad for 95 minutes was the best it has been for a while and got its just reward.
All through the game it was noticeable that there was an extra buzz and energy from our crowd, and it was this "12th man" that helped us see out the game as worthy winners. From myself and all of the players, we thank everyone there for giving us that extra lift - it really does help and made a massive difference.
Three huge points and another 12 cup finals to go, starting with Luton away on Tuesday night.
This could well go down to the wire and your efforts may well give us that extra edge to see us home. Keep believing
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