Following tonight’s sixth straight home League One victory – our tenth win from the last 12 games – Paul Heckingbottom caught up with the media, giving his thoughts on the 2-0 win over Coventry City.
“Another win, another clean sheet and another good performance.” Heckingbottom stated. “From start to finish, the best thing I can say, and credit to the players is the game plan. We worked on it yesterday, two different shapes and two different formations which they carried out to perfection.
“In terms of the significance and what people are talking about, and the profile of the game you have to say yes, it’s my biggest win. Everyone has been talking about it and we have been chasing a team in sixth place, and we could go level with them so it means a lot, but for us it’s another win on a good run.
“Our job now is assessing injuries from this game then looking to beat Walsall! That’s it, that’s as far as we can look. But we will reflect on the performances and why we’re winning, what we are doing well, then selecting the best things and the things we need to work on for the next game.
“The mind-set we’ve got we are continually driving forward and trying to get better. We’re winning more games more than we lose.”
Sam Winnall was substituted at half time, along with Lloyd Isgrove which meant the Reds changed their shape for the second half. Heckingbottom discussed why he made the decision to do the subs.
“Sam rocked his ankle” he said. “He turned it over which wasn’t great, and the way the game was going we thought we’d change the shape and go with the other system we’d been working on, so it became a tactical switch to go to a 4-3-3.
“We felt we would be able to press the centre-backs higher with our wingers, and make sure Coventry couldn’t cut us open. Credit to the players again because they have made it happen.”
Marc Roberts scored his first goal for the club after ten minutes of the match, and Heckingbottom again gave his thoughts on the towering centre-back's contribution.
“It was a good set play and a good header.” He claimed. “We’ve been on at him to get more, he’s not been aggressive enough and I think the last words Tommy (Wright) said to him, ringing his ears, were ‘make sure you’re aggressive from the first set play!’
“It was a good reward and we want to see more goals from him between now and the end of the season.”
