Goalkeeper Alex Cairns sat down with the press ahead of this weekend’s Sky Bet League One clash against AFC Wimbledon, which is set to take place on Saturday afternoon at Plough Lane.
Cairns, who is close to equalling the Football League appearance record for the Cods, is hoping to start Interim Head Coach Stephen Crainey’s time in charge with a win on the road against The Wombles at the weekend.
Here’s what Alex said in his interview:
On keeping clean sheets…
“As a goalkeeper, I don’t like conceding goals and that’s something in the weeks and months ahead that I will be nailing down. I’ll be working with the staff, the goalkeeping coach, and the players in front to make sure we keep as many clean sheets as we can.
“We attack as a team and defend as a team. You can’t just say the forwards pitch in for the goals as we help the attacks as defenders. It’s been a collective thing, but it’s just something that we haven’t managed to nail down.
“As a group, we haven’t been good enough and it’s up to us now to turn the tides. I pride myself on clean sheets and that is something that the club needs to start doing more often. We are now looking towards Saturday’s game and hopefully get the three points we know we need.”
On Crainey’s influence on the squad…
“We’ve regrouped and Crainz [Stephen Crainey] has got us together there and we all said ‘let’s have a right good go at this’, so the lads have responded well to this, the training has been sharp, which is exactly what you want going into the game on Saturday.
“If we can all be one percent better, whether that’s in the building or wherever it may be, it’s only going to benefit us as a group and in our league position. Crainz, Baz [Barry Nicholson], and Kends [Lee Kendall] will be looking to find a balance and will be looking at where we can improve.
“We’ve got some good attacking players and we’ve got some great quality within the building and that’s why I feel like we’re in a false position – we have more than enough quality to shoot up the table. It’s just about getting together, being positive, and not losing sight of our goals.”