Head coach Scott Brown sat down with the local media on Thursday afternoon and talked about many topics, including this weekend’s fixture against Milton Keynes Dons.
Town have managed to pick up four points from their last two games against Accrington Stanley and Forest Green Rovers respectively and Brown will be looking to keep that momentum going on Saturday when the Dons come to the Fylde Coast as a positive end to the season is the next objective for the squad.
Here’s what he had to say:
On Saturday’s opposition and the run-in…
“This game will be huge for them [Milton Keynes Dons] as they’re still fighting for their safety, they brought a new manager in, Mark [Jackson], and we’ve been watching his side for a couple of weeks now – they play some fantastic football. The side are able to chop and change positions, and will want to dictate the game, but so will we.
“It’s important for us that we start well and focus on us as much as we can. We will take things one game at a time; the MK game is huge and we will deal with the last two games after the fact. We want to finish the season in good form, not thinking we are safe and lose the next three games because that’s not for me or our lads in there.
“Every team we are playing in the next three games have something to play for, so we need to make sure we are on the front foot and ready for whatever is about to come. We want to finish in the top half of the table and get as many points as we can so we can get a bigger points difference from last season than we’ve done so far.”
On the current injuries and returns…
“It’s looking a bit more positive as Carlos [Mendes Gomes] has been training with us so it’s good to have him back on the grass and in the squad. He’s not been out too long so, for us, it’s all about how he gets through tomorrow and we will make the decision from then – he’s ticked all the boxes today, but tomorrow is the big question.
“Carlos has done well for us this season and that’s why we’ve been pushing for him to come back in as quickly as we possibly can, the physio has done a great job by managing to do that, but we need to make sure now that he is available for the next three games and can take part as well.
“Cian Hayes is back after being ill for the 10 days or so and he’ll be available for selection as well so I would say the squad is looking a bit stronger again. Danny [Andrew], as you know, is out for the season and Harvey [Macadam] is still struggling at this moment in time, but I think that’s it as we’ve got no more injury worries after the last couple of games.”
On the squad for next season…
“Everyone who started against Forest Green is already under contract, which is fantastic for us, and we even had a couple on the bench under contract as well. There will be comings and goings, as with every football club that wants to strengthen, and we will be losing the loan signings who will go back to their clubs but, hopefully, we will have the opportunity to bring them back again.
“We had a vision together as a club of what we wanted to be, what kind of player we wanted to bring in for each position, and we’ve done that with help from the chairman and the backroom staff as well. It’s the drive throughout the whole club that makes you want to be better, and drive standards, and we’ve managed to do that so far this season.
“We’ve managed to get more points than we did last season; when we came in at the start of the season, we wanted to work on gaining clean sheets and not losing three or four goals a game as the side conceded 81 or 82 goals last season – we’re way below that so far. The improvements are there but we always have to keep looking over our shoulders.”
