Johnnie Jackson admitted to a “burning” desire to put things right as soon as we returned to a solid week of training in preparation for Saturday’s trip to Doncaster.
Last Saturday ended in disappointment following a 3-1 defeat at home to Mansfield, and having taken the lead it was a result that our manager struggled with for the rest of the weekend.
“It was burning in me on Sunday and I couldn’t wait to get back in on Monday and get back to work,” said Johnnie after Friday’s training session, which was switched to the Elmbridge Xcel Complex in Walton due to the weather.
“It was tough, we’d had a difficult time in terms of results, but we’ve had a good week this week. We had a productive meeting at the start of it and what came out of it was some really positive things. We’d had three disappointing results, but in every one of those games we had some really good moments.
“It was important that we recognised that, but also that we addressed what we felt we could do better and the lads were keen to get out there and do that. We all take getting beaten hard – me especially – and the feeling we had after last Saturday was a tough one and we’re keen not to have too many more of them!
“The feeling I got back off the players is that we’ve got 12 games left that we can really attack, starting with Doncaster, and they want to give it absolutely everything. Our best shot is to finish as strongly as we can. We want to take it game-by-game and try and put a run together and see where it takes us. We have to aim for that and build on the good things that we have been doing.”
There’s unlikely to be changes in the make-up of our squad for the visit to South Yorkshire, but Johnnie gave the latest on a couple of key absentees.
“Hopefully Harry Pell will be back before the end of the season. He’s got quite a bad calf injury though and we know that we’re going to be without him for quite a big period. Maybe we will get him back for the last month of the season and three or four games. He’s a big player for us and a big character.”
Defender Huseyin Biler is possibly closer though with his recovery from a hamstring injury and is back outdoors again, working with Head of Sports Science Chris McConnell.
“Hus is getting closer. It’ll be great to get him back as soon as we can as he’s been a big loss to us. There’s no getting away from that, because he was outstanding when he broke through into the team. He got the shirt and kept it. He’s getting closer though and hopefully we’ll have him back before too long.”
You can see the full Friday preview with Johnnie, including his thoughts on the international retirement of Chris Gunter, below – via the link to our official YouTube channel.