Glyn Hodges felt that his side displayed plenty of fighting spirit to defy promotion-chasers Ipswich Town.
Our manager praised a fine team effort in the 0-0 draw against Ipswich at the Cherry Red Records Stadium.
Speaking in his post-match interview, Glyn said: “We showed character and resilience. To a man they worked their socks off. The subs came on and made a contribution, everyone fought and stood up to it. There were some top performances. Though it wasn’t one for the purists, it was a more satisfying game because it was like a war of attrition.
“We are showing signs that we can play our football, that we can match teams with our play, as we have some good players. This was another sign that we can mix it up, it was a physical battle and we are probably going to have something similar on Saturday with Rotherham. We just have to stand up, show that character and resilience again, stick together as a team, and hopefully we’ve got enough.
“We knew that they would be hitting lots of long balls and we knew that they would go for knock downs. We knew it wasn’t a game for the balls to be played on the floor. We tried to get the ball down, but we probably made a couple of mistakes in trying to play in the wrong areas, but credit to the boys in that they showed courage to stand up to the test. We did that in the way that the players put their bodies on the line and there were times when we showed courage to try and play. It wasn’t in the right places at times, but at least they looked to do that. I am delighted.”
Glyn saluted Man of the Match Joe Day for his display, but he felt that other players deserved plenty of credit too.
“Joe was excellent. We try to block crosses and Rod got a block in on the 18-yard line in the second-half, we were saved by the bar in the first-half, and when they did get through for one-versus-ones Joe came out. He had the answers to everything that they threw at him. As an individual, I thought he was brilliant and collectively I thought we were equally as brilliant.
“Callum Reilly, Max Sanders, and Anthony Hartigan worked their socks off in midfield. They did a lot of unselfish running that goes unseen. It brings us all together and if we put anyone in those positions we know they have that drive to put that work ethic in, so that was good.”
Glyn explained that a hamstring problem contributed to his decision to put Jack Rudoni on the bench and he added that Mads Sorensen was not ready to play due to his his head injury.
“Jack’s hamstring tightened up on Saturday, so we were concerned about that. We took him off as a precaution and we didn’t start him today. Mads has that cut on his head and he didn’t quite make it, so I think they will look to do something for Saturday. It was nice to have Waggy back in, he came on and showed his experience and helped to get us over the line for a point.”