Dearden...'The Protests Don't Help...'

Last updated : 15 January 2007 By Editor
They stuck at it and I am very, very proud of them all," a delighted Billy Dearden told the Mansfield CHAD after the Stags had secured a 3-1 success at Hereford at the weekend.

"Hereford is a very difficult place to come and other teams have come unstuck here.

"Both teams tried to play good football in difficult conditions.

"We were under the cosh or a while at 1-0 up and then we couldn't get out our half for 20 minutes after the break.

"But I thought Jason White was terrific in goal. His decision making was good and he made two tremendous saves. So I was a bit disappointed we let one in as I thought we could have done better defensively.

"There were some very good performances out there. Don't forget the two new strikers haven't played much recently, Stephen Dawson had not played for two months and Giles Coke hasn't trained this week as his partner has just given birth so there were a lot of plusses.

"I thought the two new strikers did well. Barry was shattered when I took him off and Martin was treading water at the end.

"But they did what we haven't been doing and that is hold the ball up so it wasn't just breaking down and coming back at us. And they both scored as well.

"It has been a difficult time with what's been going on off the field and the protests don't help us.

"But we will do the best we can on the field of play - that's all we can do and we know if we carry on like that the fans will be shouting for us again.

"That result should give the players a lot more confidence."