Assistant head coach Steven Whittaker spoke to the press after Fleetwood Town came away 1-0 winners over Peterborough United on Tuesday night.
Town showed their character throughout their valiant win over the Posh at the Weston Homes Stadium, with captain Josh Vela stepping up and grabbing the only goal of the evening, which earned the side all three points.
Here’s what Steven had to say after the game:
On the game as a whole and Josh Vela’s volley…
“The boys showed great character as at times, we were up against it. We had crosses coming into our box, but we showed great resilience, the team stuck together, and we showed a bit of quality in there as well.
“He [Josh Vela]’s settled in; sometimes we ask him to play a bit deeper and sometimes we push him forwards and play with two eights. We know he’s capable of doing that and we’re just glad to see him pop up on the edge of the box and finish that one off. So, depending on his role and how far he gets up the pitch, he does what he did tonight.
“It's great to come to a place like Peterborough and come away with the three points. We just need to build on that now and take that kind of performance into the upcoming games.”
On the endeavour shown throughout the team…
“I think the back four and the goalkeeper showed great endeavour to keep the ball out of the goal. If the balls were coming in, they were getting first contacts and if it dropped, we made sure the bodies were on the line to block the shots. To a man, they were outstanding tonight.
“I thought he [Lewis Warrington] was fantastic; we want to play through him at times and he well at that. It’s great to see him play like that and he just needs to match those levels now week in, week out.
“I think we can play through him more now as he’s a player we need to get on the ball so he can give us a little bit more control than we have done in previous games.”
On turning performances into wins…
“That’s been the message, there have been games in there that we have drawn that we should have won, but in the same breath, in the games that we’ve been two goals down, we’ve come back to get a point.
“Tonight, we’ve managed to earn the three points. We are still assessing the league as we go as it’s still in the early stages of the season, we believe we’ve built a squad that is able to beat anyone on their day so we’ll keep working away.
“There’s still work to be done, the guys have been great since we came through the door before the start of the season and we are all trying to get everything on board and build a winning mentality in the squad.”