With one game to go until Wembley, GW looks ahead to the all-important second leg at Southend...
One of the biggest stories from the first leg at the Lamex was the clash of heads between Bira Dembele and Michael Timlin which resulted in a long delay and both players eventually leaving the game.
GW spoke about how the defender has been getting on in the days since.
“He is fine in himself; he is a lot better today. He had a scan after the game the other night which was clean, which is positive. He is settling down, day by day he is improving and we will see how he is when he comes in tomorrow.”
Sunday’s game was a full-blooded affair throughout but thankfully, Graham Westley believes he should still have a strong squad to pick from on Thursday.
“It was a bruising encounter, I think they made 20 fouls in the game and when you are in a game where there is that many fouls committed against you, you are likely to take a knock or two but in fairness the boys have come through pretty clean. Most boys have trained this morning and we should be in pretty good shape.”
With big games come big pressure and GW believes his players will be able to put that aside and thrive on the challenge come Thursday evening.
“There are teams that look at a finish line and are drawn to it and there are teams that look at a finish line and are daunted by it.
“I have got a feeling what we will be a side that is drawn to the finish line. It is in our nature, it is in our make-up and you can definitely feel the confidence and the authority within the squad growing.
“The collective mentality and the collective spirit is one of focus on the job that needs to be done. There is a strong sense of belief in us. We have had a long hard look at ourselves from the first leg. We were disappointed with what we did, we know we have got more in us and we know that our level wasn’t good enough.
“We have taken on board some pointers; we have all taken on board the lessons that are there to be gained for us all and we are ready to go.
“These are great games to go and be a party of, great games to test yourself in and great games to succeed in.
“There is sense of looking forward with real optimism, real determination and a really steely desire of the prize that lays in front of us.”