Our Head Coach previewed Tuesday night's clash with Portsmouth for the assembled media.
ON GOOD FORM
"The players have said it on numerous occasions, they've worked very hard on the training field and I think that's what happens (results) when you do that. Put the work in, you get the rewards. Not always, but I think they've benefitted from a lot of good effort, lot of good sessions. We've had a bit of time, when you look at those four games, time on the training pitch. I think we've seen a very committed team. You look at the performance at Wigan, the players right from the first whistle were totally committed to getting a result. We know that there's lots to improve, a long way to go and challenges to come. But definitely always nice to pick up wins and to top it off some positive performances."
ON CLEAN SHEETS
"When you keep clean sheets, the praise goes to the goalkeeper or the centre-backs. You'll hear me say many times about the team, as a whole. Devante, it starts with him and whoever is beside him at the top end. The pressing, putting the pressure on, trying to stop the ball from coming towards our goal. So I think as a collective, we've just tried to build on some of the really strong aspects that the team had last year. That was something that I noticed, how well organised they were."
ON DEVANTE COLE'S FORM
"The first one is just class, a class finish. It actually ended a very good move. The finish was sublime. The second goal is excellent, right place right time. He makes it look easy, it wasn't an easy a chance as he made it look out to be. Looking at it he could have had a hattrick but for the offside flag. Right now, Devante is taking his opportunities but more than that he's very good against the ball and it's easy to forget that that side's just as important for us when we're keeping these clean sheets."
ON PORTSMOUTH
"They're a very, very difficult team to beat. We all like to win games, but if you can't win don't lose, and they've managed to do that, even on Saturday, scoring a late goal against Derby. The game could have gone either way. It's a great test for us, we want to make it a really good test for them and we're looking forward to the game."
