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" It was nice to get off to a great start again at home with the result against Oldham. It was a tough game, ultimately we've battled away, we've kept going, kept our shape, defended well and a nice result sets us up for another good week. I think you could see the emotion of the week certainly with myself right at the end, where all of sudden it was - the week is done, we've come through unscathed results wise, football-wise and we can now kick on to better things. Hopefully be a little bit more relaxed around what we are doing and pick up some more good results.
" John (Sheridan) agreed that we deserved to be in front at half-time, we heard his half-time talk above ours his was that ferocious. That's a good sign, that we came in knowing we can do a little bit better with the ball, we can create a few more chances and that there is more in the locker. I did remind them though that we'd defended very well, they hadn't had a clean sight on our goal in 45 minutes against a side that is going to be in the top six of our division. So that's a real positive and it gives us a good base to work on, and we'll get the other things right. It takes a little bit of time but at half-time I was really pleased.
" My half-time talk was full of positives, full of the way that they had defended well, we'd got the ball into decent wide areas at times. I thought our final ball again could have been better, our sharpness and slickness of passing could have been slightly better. I reminded them though of all the good things, they hadn't seen the goal, they hadn't passed the ball and we'd squashed all their threats. (Chris) Davies upfront and (Michael) Ricketts were anonymous for me in the first-half. (Neil (Kilkenny) is a very good player and he hardly ever got a kick.
" We caused (Sean) Gregan and (John) Thompson, which is what we set out to do, all sorts of problems. So I just then, after all that I reminded them, right at the end I said : "does everybody remember last week?" They looked at me and I said : "Walsall, one minute into the second-half we conceded a goal" and I think that pricked their conscience and got them back on the ball. We started off the second-half defensively very, very well again.
" We got a little bit edgy if you like and my players are entitled to do that. They are a young side and we do lack a real commanding figure at times to shout, bawl and organise us. Thirs (Paul Thirlwell) does a fantastic job in there, he's a very experienced but inexperienced captain if that makes a bit of sense. "
" We just need that little bit more belief and we need to be that little bit less edgy, we got sucked back a little bit but literally all of their play was in front of us and didn't hurt us. Ultimately you think - well did we then put our bodies on the line, did we defend with a good shape and did we defend properly and I think we did. Right to the last minute I don't think Keiren (Westwood) has had a proper save to make in near enough 90 minutes.
" I asked for them (the supporters) to be biased, I asked for them to support their team and I can't ask for any more than that. At the end of the game they'll go away home knowing that the football at times wasn't as pretty as they would have liked, I know that and they know that. Let's not try to con anybody, but they did what I asked for and they supported their team, they are our supporters and I asked them to support our team and they did which is fantastic.
" At the end when we needed that little bit of that extra thing from somewhere, because they can shout louder than me because there is 8,000 of them and there is only one of me. Sometimes in the game you need them just to start a roar, start a backing and give the players some extra little bits and pieces to work with. Collectively, and I said collectively, everybody connected with the club won the game on Saturday, I'm comfortable with all that.
" Ultimately it is the players who have got to sweat blood out there on the pitch but there are other people, and the fans know now that they can play their part too and I thought they did do.I had my parents up with me and I just went back to our house in Wetherby and we all sat together and just had a little bite to eat. I have to say that I was bed at 11pm on a Saturday night for the first time in a good number of years.
" I actually fell asleep during Match of the Day so I must have been exhausted but I was bright as on Sunday and I just really enjoyed the weekend. A few positive phone calls as well on Sunday about how we had done and what we were hoping to achieve. It's been a good weekend and the good thing is that I just couldn't wait to get to work this morning. I've bounced in here and we've had a bit of a laugh already with the staff and we'll get ready for training a little bit later on."
" It's not easy, I'll tell you now it's easy but we know that we are going to work hard, we're all in it together and it's boring, it's cliched but it's one week at a time. If we can go next week and turn Huddersfield over and then look at a getting a result after that then all of a sudden a little bit of tension and confidence comes through because you are at the better end of the league.
" You can take the anxiety out of players and that is a big thing with players, if they are playing with confidence and the backing of a few results behind them then they'll perform a little bit better and we aim to do that. It's certainly not easy though.
" Probably for us not having a midweek game is a good thing because we can just take stock of things. I think the midweek game last week was great because it came quickly off the back of what had happened but I think that this week it gives us a chance to get out there and continue our search for players and opposition teams that we are playing. It gives us a chance to work on things in training and relax the players again.
" Then on Wednesday I am going to give everybody a day off, the staff will go out looking at games on the night but the players will all be off. They can just then come down a little bit and they'll be fizzing like mad on Thursday, then we'll get ready in the serious preparation for the Huddersfield game.
" I know Andy (Ritchie) at Huddersfield really well, very well infact, he has already been on the phone, we've not talked too much about the game because he won't give anything away, and I'll give even less away. I'm probably more guarded than anybody at the moment with people thinking that I am a new manager. It's not the case though, I know the game, I'm not stupid, we'll really look forward to that, it's a lovely stadium. I'm just going to get my players nice and relaxed early in the week and then we'll start thinking seriously about the game on Thursday. "
" Certainly on Saturday what had happened had sunk in, we were desperate for that result and that final whistle to give us the result. I think now what we've got to do is take all the pressure off everybody again, let's just really come down and start relaxing and take the anxiety away. We've got a couple of results now - smashing, let's start doing the job with a nice way and not worry too much about what is around the corner. That will be my message to the players all week.
" We're not changing things, we're doing things exactly the same way, we're going to be nice and bright and breezy and the players will enjoy themselves again this morning. There are a number of things that remind you that you are the manager, things like sorting out the recruitment system, getting opposition match reports and players contracts. I've got a meeting later on with the board so it will be something they are throwing at me, I'll be throwing things at them and between us we can get the solutions to all the shortcoming problems.
" It's always important to continually try to improve your squad, now you've got certain guidelines that the league have set out such as the transfer window so if you need to do something then you have got to get it done by that time. So that is the importance of that but it is a continuous process and what I've said to the people here is that I'm hoping in the last week that we're not frantically looking around for players because it means we have not done our work leading up to that.
" I hope that I don't foresee any desperate silly situations where we are looking at trying to sign a player with 20 minutes to go and stuff like that. We are always ongoing at looking at new players, we've got plenty to discuss with the owner (Fred Story) tonight when he comes to see me. Then we'll look at the best options from there.
" I spoke to Dolly (Neil Dalton) yesterday and he said that there are no new injuries and everybody has got a clean bill of health. Obviously Murph (Peter Murphy) is still struggling away but he's going to get out I think doing some light work today, what that consists of I'm not quite sure but Dolly said he will be doing some light work. We're hopefully looking at having all players fit and healthy certainly by the later end of the week. "