Cheltenham Town FC

It feels a lot better than after it does after a big loss that's for sure, not that we've had one yet. It's nice to come in on a Monday knowing that your boys have put in a performance over the weekend that they can review in a happy atmosphere.

You can't rest on your laurels of course, we're only three games in and haven't done anything yet but the thing you can point to is that there were a lot of things we have been trying to work on that all came together. 

I thought the level we played at on the day was very good and it's conducive to scoring goals and winning football matches.

We always pick out what went well and didn't go so well depending on how the game goes. If you have a long column of everything that went well then you'll probably win the game.

You have to keep reviewing so people can see their game in a good and bad light so that they know what to improve on meaning as the season progresses we can get more of a flow to our game.

I thought we had a flow about our game on Saturday, without the end product in the first half but because there was a flow it was only a matter of time and just after half time when we got the goal I think there was a sense of relief all round.

We didn't let them get back into it, I think that we then got our pattern into the game. We were passing and moving well. A couple of times we slowed the game down a little bit and I didn't really want to do that so I've spoken to a couple of guys about that.

They weren't trying to protect themselves, they were trying to see out the game but there was half an hour to go. You can't do that with 30 minutes to go when you are only 1-0 up. We needed to keep probing and keep getting in at them so that we can eventually break them down again.

Once you get the two goals, as I've always said, then teams don't come at you in the last five minutes and if you get three goals then you'll have 20 minutes when they won't come back at you. That's when you see the game out whilst still keeping the flow and the tempo up.

We watched them against Macclesfield before the game and we thought they looked dangerous on the break. Especially when Macclesfield when down to 10 men, Southport got in a few times and hit the post so I thought that they would be a decent side against us and we made sure we were right up for it.

The boys said before the game that they didn't look too bad but on the day you demoralise a team when you get that third goal.

We'll have a look at them today and tomorrow, we look at ourselves first, then put a full stop after that game and look ahead.

It will be a good test, we've got to make sure that we keep our own pattern going, but at the same time realising what strengths they've got. The stats say that you've got to do very well to break them down (they are yet to concede a goal this season).

I encountered him a few times whilst at Yeovil and he's probably been a bit unlucky not to have had a longer career in the League. He knows the level well that's for sure, it's a good appointment for Chester. He knows players, he knows who can handle this level and who can't. So I'm sure Chester will be there or there about. It's a nice little stadium, it's a Football League stadium.

We'll be respecting them don't worry about that.

It it heartening because that's the first point of your team's performance, making sure that you're not open. I thought we were a bit too open at Lincoln, a little bit better against Aldershot and we tweaked a few things just to block up a few holes that we thought people were exploiting a little bit.

The last thing you want is to create yourself a reputation of having a particular weakness. Whether that be set plays, which was nearly getting there so we've worked hard on that for the last couple of games and it's all come together.

You can work as hard as you want on the training ground but if your defenders can't defend you're in trouble. Our defenders can defend and they're showing that at the moment but it is early days.

It was much better yes. Again you are not going to get that flow for 90 minutes because you have an opposition that are trying to stop you and they will have chances of their own who ever you're playing.

But it was good that generally we had more corners that them, even though I read somewhere that both teams had 17 corners and 50/50 possession, that's rubbish! Whoever that bloke is who said that we've exposed him!

Anyway, two good halves and of course you've got to have an end product no matter how well you play. I thought they were three really good goals and determined goals, you know especially the two headers were two people determined to get on the end of it in the penalty area and I love to see that.

It's goes along with what I did when I brought the players in, we've kept them all together, we've had some injuries and we have some lads who are getting close to the first team squad, and the starting lineup. That makes me feel more comfortable because with all of these games coming up we have got strength on the bench as well.

Harry (Pell) did well with his leg. He was great. Towards the end he changed our flow a little bit because he wanted to keep a bit more possession. If you would have seen his injury you wouldn't have believed he's played the last couple of games and credit to him really.

We put him out slightly wider for several reasons, one is that you're not so much in the hurly burly, he's also good at finding space, he's good at driving at people and he's good at coming in on the back stick. He's one of the heroes.

George (McLennan) was another hero because he was ill for three days. We sent him home and he hadn't eaten that much. At half time he said he needed to come off but we convinced him to stay on a little while longer and we'll have to see how he is today. He was a hero as well.

That's what you need when you have a small squad, you can't have people pulling out with a broken nail.

James (Rowe) trains and then the physio's are wary not to put him back four or five weeks again. He's a player we're going to need this season and when we've got that team and bench we don't need to rush him back.

Vaughny (Lee Vaughn) is probably closer than Jordan (Wynter) to being back. Jordan still needs to do a lot of work around the injury to make sure the muscles are strong. Vaughny has had a couple of injections in his hamstring and they have worked well for him. He's been lively and in around the squad like the others have, everyone here is a big part of what we're trying to do.