Johnnie Jackson and his squad aren’t getting carried away ahead of Saturday’s visit to Salford City, regardless of our recent excellent form.
Last weekend’s 4-0 victory over Swindon Town resulted in five of our players included in the League Two Team of the Week, with Joe Lewis and Jake Reeves also included in the overall EFL Team and Johnnie named as manager of both.
“We’ve stayed grounded all throughout the season so far,” said Johnnie, shortly before departing our New Malden training base earlier. “I’ve got a good group that manage that themselves.
“The other side of that is that when we’ve had a couple of bad results, we haven’t made a big deal of it – we stay true to what we do. I’ve said to the boys that when that does happen, you’ve just got to keep believing in what we’re doing. When we get the wins, you can’t think that all of a sudden, you’ve cracked it.
“I feel like we’re in a good place and we’re playing some good stuff, but the boys know that we haven’t achieved anything yet. We’re not even halfway through the season, so it’s about keep doing what we’re doing, trying to find that consistency, and I think we’ll be alright if we do that. We’re certainly not going to get carried away.”
You can listen to everything Johnnie had to say below.
Despite Salford’s lowly position, in twentieth place, Johnnie is wary of the threat they could pose on home territory at the Peninsula Stadium tomorrow afternoon.
“When you look at the table you think that they’re struggling but having watched them and done the homework – they’re a good team,” said Johnnie.
“The conditions might not be favourable and the pitch might not be holding up brilliantly, so there’s that to contend with. They’ve got a way of playing that makes it difficult for you and a centre-forward in Matt Smith who is one of the top scorers in the league. They’ve got threats that we have to be well aware of – we are, and we’ve done our work on that.
“They’ll know that they are in for a game as well, what with our away form and now that we’ve backed that up at home - we go there in good nick. It’ll be a tough one though.”
We set off for the north west this afternoon in good shape. Johnnie again has plenty to choose from his squad, following some difficult discussions with those who’ve had to be left behind on this occasion. Armani Little was rated 50/50 to play against Swindon, but our manager explained how fortunately things turned out.
“I have to make those judgement calls, it’s my job to pick the team that I think is going to get the job done,” said Johnnie.
“I’m also very mindful that I don’t want to put players at risk – it’s their body and it has to be with their blessing. Me and Armani had a really open and honest conversation before that game about how he felt. We managed his training going into it and he felt okay to start. I did tell him that if he had any problems, he needed to let me know.
“He’s in great form, a really important player for us and if he’s available – I’m keen to have him out there. I’m sure he’s glad he chose to play – what with his goal and his performance! We have to keep a close eye on him though in this crazy schedule and manage the group really well, with him being a key part of that.”
Photos: Pro Sports Images.
You can listen to full commentary of the game at Salford City, with our Radio WDON team, by purchasing an iFollow audio match pass.