Head Coach Scott Brown sat down with the local media on Thursday afternoon ahead of his side’s Sky Bet League One clash against Plymouth Argyle.
Saturday will see the Cods return to Highbury for the first home competitive fixture of the season as they welcome Argyle to the Fylde Coast. Town will be looking to bounce back from their narrow opening day loss to Port Vale and, with the Cod Army behind them, will be looking for three points at the weekend.
Here’s what Scott had to say in his pre-match interview:
On the squad’s reaction to last week…
“The lads have worked extremely hard this week on the training pitch, we’ve worked on set-plays and where everyone should be as, but we’ve also worked on different shapes and the understanding of how we can attack and have a low block as well.
“It’s different situations at different times and it depends on the game you are in, whether you are under pressure as that determines how the team reacts.
On forging a winning mentality…
“Something me and Steven [Whittaker] spoke about when we came in is about that winning mentality and when you go one goal up, you can win from that position by being brave and hold out, but it was a crazy couple of minutes from ourselves against Port Vale.
“It was maybe due to a bit of inexperience, and I’ve got to take that on the chin by bringing on a lot of young players, but for me, We will see them improves slowly week-by-week and they will learn from their mistakes.
“I will do that as a manager as well, so we’ll look at it, bounce back and focus on the lads being prepared for Saturday. I’ve given them the best preparation I can give them and hopefully as much information they can take in as well.”
On Saturday’s opponents, Plymouth Argyle…
“We know that every game will be competitive. I have watched a lot of them recently and I think they will start off with a back three so it’s about how we can go and expose them and target the areas that they are weak in.
“Plymouth are a team who like to keep possession and play out from the back, and they do have some great players in the middle of the park and if we can put some pressure on them and force them back.
"We just have to be brave on the ball and we did showcase that in the first 25-30 minutes against Port Vale, but once they scored, we got nervous and stopped doing that. I know we can be calmer on the ball and keep possession better in those situations.”
On the injuries in the squad…
“We’ve got a couple of lads who’ve come back into training, rather than spending time with the sports scientists. They are getting there and may make the team at the weekend, but tomorrow will be the day we make the judgement call on everything.
“Promise [Omochere] will be out for a couple of weeks, maybe even a month with the fracture, but we’ll see how that goes in the next couple of days. He’s got a few meetings with a few consultants, so we’ll take that step-by-step. Here’s hoping it’s not as long as we first thought.
“It’ll be tough for him, especially after getting an assist as well. He’s probably thinking that he’s not started too bad and was very brave as he went in for the challenge. These things happen in football – there’s going to be injuries, but we just need to limit how many we get.”
Watch Scott Brown and his team in action this weekend with your very own Onward Card
Make sure you are in the stands to watch the Cods during the 2022/23 Sky Bet League One season by getting your very own Onward Card. Adult tickets start at just £14.17 a month and Under-16s from just £1.92 a month. Details on this season's cards are HERE.