Mark warns that the fight is far from over
Mark Robins is under no illusions that his side have still a long way to go this season despite Tuesday night’s impressive victory over Burnley.
James Vaughan’s strike earned Robins and his coaching staff the first victory of their rein and he admitted that there was a sense of relief following the win.
“We have had two clean sheets and there have been a lot of positives during the last week. We still have got a long way to go because it isn’t brilliant to watch at the moment, but in fairness the players are giving everything that they have got. The supporters see that and appreciate that.
“It is our job to drive that on and continue to pick up points. Having said that our next two games are very tough; I went to Middlesbrough on Wednesday night and they have got some good players in their side.”
Town are in for a tough couple of games starting with a trip to Brighton on Saturday and the visit of Middlesbrough on Tuesday night.
“We are under no illusions that there are difficult games ahead, but we need to try and push ourselves to improve our standing in the league,” Robins said.
“We are looking to cause Brighton one or two problems and I believe we can do. It will be my first visit to The Amex Stadium and it looks like a fantastic place; they have done a great job. I am looking forward to pitting my wits against a manager who is well regarded who has got his team playing attractive football. He has got some very good players in his team who are very technically gifted. We can’t be overawed, we need to go down there and give a good account of ourselves – and we will do that.
“The clean sheets have pleased me the most recently because we have – when you look at the statistics – the worst defensive record in the league. Nobody is proud of that statistic and we all want to improve it. It isn’t just up to the defenders and the goalkeeper; everybody on the pitch has a role to play to try and keep the ball out of the net.
“If we continue to do what we did against Burnley then we will be a lot more solid.”
Mark has been in the job over two weeks now and is happy with what he has seen.
“My first assessment of the squad when I first arrived was that we had some good players and I do still believe that; the issue is how do I get the best out of them. We need to get better performances out of them on a consistence basis. We need to get all the players back fully fit because at the moment there is a lack of balance to the squad. We have got 12 games left to pick up the points up that we need. The players that we have available have worked their socks off and they need to continue to do so; we need to maintain the standards that they have set over the last week.”
There was good news on the injury front with both Jermaine Beckford and Danny Ward nearing a first team return.
“Jermaine is in good spirits, but he is needed on the pitch and I think he is maybe a couple of weeks away from being back with us. We want to get him back as quickly as possible. Danny Ward has been running on the training pitch so hopefully he will be able to join in with us soon.”
The Brighton game is all ticket – there will be no pay on the day – click HERE for ticket information.