Forward Ellis Harrison sat down with the media on Wednesday afternoon and previewed Fleetwood Town’s Good Friday clash against Oxford United.
Harrison, who has been a crucial figure in the Cods’ front line since joining in January, now has got five goals to his name after scoring in the club’s last outing, which was a narrow loss against Accrington Stanley on Saturday, and he will be looking to add to his tally once again when The U’s come to town.
Here’s what Ellis had to say in his interview:
On the last five games…
“We are all still positive, when you start to think negatively, that’s when things start going downhill quickly, so everyone is still positive about staying above that line. You create your own luck as when you’re at the top of the league, things fall to you, but when you’re at the bottom, they don’t and that’s how it’s gone.
“I’m very confident we will stay above that line, if we aren’t confident now then when will we be? We’ve got five games left which are five cup finals, we can’t be crumbling under pressure now. We’ve had long enough to win games and now we’ve got to win the last five – it’s crunch time.
“Hopefully, we can get some wins in the next five games, I know it’s easier said than done, we need to push and get some results. These next five games will all be tests, in different ways, this whole season has been a test for us. We've got to try and get the same outcome, whether they are up there or down at the bottom - we need to be getting points on the board.
"We are hoping that it will be done and dusted in the next two or three games, it's not nice going down to the wire, but if it does, we've got to step up to the challenge. Nothing is free in this world, nobody is going to give us anything, so we have to go out and get it ourselves."
On Stephen Crainey’s coaching…
“He [Stephen Crainey] has been great with me and the lads from what I’ve seen. I judge a manager on how he treats the lads who aren’t in the team, and he has been class with that. He’s positive and that’s what we need, we don’t need negativity – I don’t think he’s come in once and thought that we hadn’t been good enough, he has told us a couple of times, but has always stayed positive for us.
“He’s obviously experienced enough, having been a coach and having a long playing career, we’ve come in and had rollockings and have come in and he’s put an arm around us, he man manages really well and that is only going to be positive for not only us but everyone at Fleetwood Town.”
On the younger players in the squad…
“The next five games will be massive for them, it’ll be the first time they will have been in a relegation battle for sure, but they aren’t showing that they have nerves, they are playing well. The young lads didn’t need to integrate into the side, you’ve seen what they do on a Saturday, they are good enough. That’s how you get in the team and since I’ve been here, they have been top-notch.
“We had Harvey [Macadam] come in the other day who scores on his debut. We’ve also got Boyley [Dylan Boyle], Bags [Barry Baggley], Cian [Hayes], and Chiekh [Thiam] who came on against Sunderland and more. They’ve all played their parts and have done well when asked.
“The young players haven’t been a problem this year because they’ve been our best players, you can’t put age as an issue as they’ve been good all year round. The lads that have come into the team have been great so I can’t sit here and say we are where we are because of age as that would be wrong.”
On his time at Fleetwood so far…
“I’m loving it, I’m playing football again which is what I wanted to do as a kid. I’ve come to Fleetwood and the setup is incredible, it’s probably better than most in the league in terms of the facilities so I can’t ask for a lot more. It was a no-brainer to come, I spoke to the manager when I signed, and he said I was going to play, and it feels like I’m helping the team in some way.
“I know I’ve got five goals, but I would rather take none and have five wins. When you are scoring and losing, it takes a lot of the happiness away from it because it’s not about me, it’s about Fleetwood and if I’d have scored 30 this season with no wins, that would be no good to me."