Roy McFarland On A Point Gained

Last updated : 23 February 2007 By Thetashkentterror
Roy McFarland
Spireites manager Roy McFarland spoke to Chesterfield's Official Website about the dire 0-0 draw against United tonight, McFarland talking about the hard work his players put in to secure a point :


"That's our second clean sheet on the trot and we can build from that. We kept it tight and restricted them to long range shots and held our line very well in a good team performance. I thought overall, especially in the second half, we took control of the game. We should really have capitalised when Hally (Paul Hall) got in behind them after a good ball from Alex Bailey, but we didn't make the cross count.

"The clean sheet and the way we frustrated them and forced them into errors, which frustrated the crowd was good. If we had been sharper of mind and more telling with passes we might have come away with all three points. He (Jamie Ward) wasn't available and is away for six weeks. I thought Larks (Colin Larkin) had a poor first half and was off the pace but got more into it in the second half and was much more of a threat later on.

"Both keepers made a couple of good saves. The Chief (Wayne Allison) went close with his long range effort, which the goalkeeper saved and perhaps made it better than it was. But I thought our defence didn't let much through them and it was a good team performance and by sheer hard work we forced them into mistakes and errors.

"That (Nottingham Forest) is a big game for us and we will be looking to build on our clean sheets on Saturday. We can go into it with a lot of confidence and hopefully we can get a full house. He (Derek Niven) will miss that game after picking up his fifth booking. It's just that time of the season where bookings tot up into suspensions and that's the reason we have strengthened the squad in recent weeks.

"It was important for him (James Meredith) to travel with us and be in the dressing room to see what we are all about. Paul Shaw had to pull out of the squad during the warm-up with a very sore toe. He had his nail cut by the doctor but it was still sore so hopefully that will be sorted on Wednesday and he should be available again for Saturday."