Coleman – We Matched Them

Manager John Coleman has said he doesn’t believe there was much in our FA Cup first round tie against Notts County at the weekend but he was disappointed with how little we offered going forward.

A scoreless draw against the League One side at Meadow Lane has set up a replay at the Store First for Tuesday November 18 and whilst the manager could take some positives from the game, he told the Official Site that obviously we would have to do more in games in the future if we hope to win again.

‘There wasn’t much in the game, I think both sides looked a bit edgy. The longer the game went on I think both sides didn’t want to lose it rather than win it. I’d have liked us to have been more of an attacking threat. We had a couple of half chances but didn’t really create a lot and it was as if we set out to contain and we didn’t. We just couldn’t seem to get our attacking flow going.’

With the manager picking out our lack of creative spark on the day, we were obviously missing loanees John O’Sullivan and Sean Maguire as their parent clubs didn’t give them permission for the Cup and unfortunately for us, those stepping in just didn’t manage to click on the day.

‘We’ve had to make a couple of changes but the lads who have come in are good players and I’m not blaming them. We didn’t seem ourselves going forward and hopefully we can rectify that.’

One of the obvious positives though was that we kept our first clean sheet in five attempts away from home, and our defensive showing and the way we dug in and battled was a source of pleasure for the manager.

‘We did really well defensively. You have to take your hat off to the lads and I thought Michael Liddle, on his comeback, was absolutely magnificent and clearly man of the match. That’s a testament to his character and the hard work he’s put in whilst he’s been out injured and people don’t see that.’

The gaffer also ended with praise for Kal Naismith who returned to the side having been granted some compassionate leave, and Coleman praised his character for coming back and putting in a shift as he knows it was difficult for him, and he knows we can’t rush him but ‘he’s made of good stuff’ and he’s been delighted with how the team have rallied around him at this difficult point.