Forward Paddy Madden spoke to the club’s media team ahead of Town’s final game of 2018, which is against Kenny Jackett’s Portsmouth at Highbury on Saturday.
Joey Barton’s side head into the game after beating promotion hopefuls Doncaster Rovers 3-0 on Boxing Day – to extend the undefeated home streak to seven games.
Madden – who is now on 12 goals for the season - grabbed two goals against Doncaster, opening the scoring in the 11th minute and securing the three points late on, thanks to an assist by Dean Marney.
Here is what the forward had to say ahead of Town’s fixture against Pompey…
On making Highbury a fortress…
“It’s what we wanted from the start, it took us a little time to get the home form going but we knew that with the squad, and staff that we have, that we would get that right. The last five results show that we are turning it into a bit of a fortress.
“If we can go and get another three points from the Portsmouth game, it really will be an amazing confidence boost and with possibly two wins over two top teams, the confidence will be very high and will get us a push for the remainder of the season.
“It’s important that we don’t get ahead of ourselves. If we want to get where we want to go, we need to take each game as it comes and keep racking those points up at home and I’m very confident the away form will follow.”
On how competitive League One is…
“In this league, if you keep your shape and don’t overdo things, you can win a lot of games. I think we did that superbly against Doncaster, even the boys who came on knew their roles and we grinded it out. Doncaster are a very good side, and have proven that so far this season, so I think we can take a lot of confidence from that.
“League One is all about taking your chances because its probably the most end to end league in England. If your chances come, you have to take them and if you get a nice lead, you’ll more than likely go on and win.”
On taking care of himself over the festive season…
“It’s obviously hard, you have the family over and they are all having some beverages, but you have to have some professionalism because you’ll have a lot more days to do stuff like that. You’ve just got to make sure to look after yourself, refuel, keep hydrated and mentally prepare for the upcoming games due to the quick turnaround.”