Dino Maamria was pleased to see his side come away from a tough away trip to Mansfield with a clean sheet and a share of the points, while remaining confident for the remainder of the season…
One or two shaky moments, but solid throughout…
“I thought first half we were very good. We had the best chance of the half, (Paul) Taylor should have scored - there is no doubt about it. Through one-on-one with all the time in the world, he hit the ‘keeper. If we had have scored that, it would have been a different game.”
“We knew that when Mansfield kick into their own fans, it is always going to be difficult. We were trying to win the game, they chucked one of two bodies forward and they were hitting us on the counter attack.”
“Apart from that, a very good draw for us. Take everything from the last three or four games, when you come to Mansfield and get a nil-nil, clean sheet, it is always a positive result.”
Luis Fernandez injury…
“It is a new one today. We have got players getting injured in the warm-up. We lost Kurtis and Luis in fitness tests today. Well, Luis got past the fitness test but was then injured in the warm-up.”
“Obviously, that continues the injury list. We have got eight first team players out. I know we are not in a great position, but you have got to see the circumstances we are facing right now, and I think people know that. To get the result we got today, the draw we got last week at (Leyton) Orient, they are big results for us.”
“The problem that we are facing, any other team that we face would do a lot worse. Imagine Liverpool with seven of their first team players not playing, and see how well Liverpool perform.”
“Because we have not got the personnel to put the team out we would like, we have got a lot of young players. To be fair to them, they are putting their bodies on the line. Every week we have a new debutant, today we had Charlie Lakin. Kelland has done well again. Those 17/18-year-old lads, sometimes the games catch up with them.”
“The biggest point for me today was that our experienced players were absolutely magnificent. I have got to single out Paul Farman. Probably the best performance in the Football League today. Luther Wildin looked like a man mountain today as a centre back. Tom Soares as well, he is a midfielder. He was a man mountain at centre back as well. Joel Byrom’s performance today was outstanding. He was struggling with his groin, carried on the game, took the captain’s armband, rallied the troops and was outstanding. Chris Stokes, left wing-back, he was magnificent. Danny Newton, lead the line, dropped deep at the end and never stopped running.
“Those experienced lads carried the young ones through. It was brilliant to see because that goes a long way.”
Charlie Lakin…
“What Lakin will do is give us that bit of brightness going forward. We saw today what he was capable of. He skipped past one or two midfielders there to put Paul Taylor through one-on-one first half. That is what he is there for. It caught up with him at the end there as well. Last fifteen minutes he was flagging a little bit because we had made our three subs.”
The gaffer remains confident that while injuries keep setting Stevenage back, goals and wins will come in the near future.
“While getting some bodies back, let us keep nicking points, let us keep getting some points on the board. I know, when we get everybody back together, we are capable of winning week after week after week. Which we will do.”
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