Lee Johnson spoke to the press after his side secured a 2-1 victory in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy against Yorkshire rivals Bradford City.
Johnson was delighted and felt this was just what the fans deserved as well as his team. Two Conor Hourihane set pieces were headed home by Captain Alfie Mawson and Marley Watkins to give the Reds the win.
“What I’m pleased with today is how competitive we were,” said Johnson. “Whenever you come to Bradford you know it’s going to be a difficult game, so you’ve got to make sure you stand up and compete.
“Our defence was strong, we were hard to break down and Adam Davies looked good,” Johnson added.
After a slight change in formation, the Reds Head Coach gave his thoughts on how that affected his side.
“It gave us strength in both boxes,” Johnson explain. “I would have liked to have seen us be a bit more fluent with the ball in the first half though. We adjusted something at half time as we had to work harder in the middle to create angles, and once we did that we were the better team.”
Johnson was asked about his thoughts on the progression of the Reds in the competition, but he didn’t want to let anyone get carried away.
“No talk of Wembley at all, you just can’t.” Declared Johnson. “It’s too early and it’s a tough northern section, it would be disrespectful to anyone else left in the draw.
“I would love to lead the team out there though, I would honestly love nothing more, so the dream is there and we have to aspire to it.”
After giving Harry White a professional debut as a substitute in tonight’s match, Johnson explained as to why.
“I had to get Harry on. His Mum and Dad were ringing me as they kept driving miles to come and see him!” Quipped Johnson. “He’s not shy, he put himself about and he did well. I thought all our subs did well tonight though.”
Johnson’s final words were ahead of this weekend’s trip to Southend.
“I’m really pleased with tonight. We didn’t want the confidence to dip as we’re doing alright. The fans needed that to get a boost. We’ll kick on for Saturday now and get the boys ready, our international players will be back so we look strong again.”
