Paul Dickov speaks more about the 2-0 victory over Huddersfield on Saturday
Was that the response you were looking for after Bournemouth?Absolutely, I said after the game last week that I expected a response and I knew that I was going to get one. We played against a team who scored 5 goals last week and we conceded 5 last week. That shows me that, as disappointed as we were last week, we have got a lot of character in this squad and I think everyone showed that today. I thought we were fantastic but what we need to do now is keep our standards high, like I always say.
What is the key to the response you got and the win against Huddersfield?
We didn’t change things a lot to be honest. We always work in a shape when we’re without the ball, we always work on getting crosses in the box and those sorts of things, but it just shows you that if you have eleven players out there who are really playing well you can get the goals.
I said to them before the match; don’t leave anything out there, I want you to come in absolutely knackered as it’s the least you can do. But I thought our work rate and our shape was fantastic and when we had the ball we were a real threat.
Huddersfield started the match quite strongly so how important was that first goal for us?
It was very important and that’s why we signed Billy Sharp. There probably wasn’t another player on the pitch who would have taken that goal today. He has a fantastic habit of being in the right place at the right time and once we scored the first goal we really settled down.
As fantastic as it is to get the three points, defensively and keeping a clean sheet for us this week was massive for us as well.
Gabi Tamas set up Billy Sharp’s finish- he had a very good game..
He was absolutely outstanding. I thought him and Meite showed their quality at the back today. They both played together at West Brom a few years ago as a central defensive partnership, and I think that showed. We watched the Huddersfield Barnsley game last week and their forwards were a huge handful, but as a back four we kept all their front players quiet and didn’t allow them to get on the score sheet. They came out after the second half and had to change their system to accommodate us, so credit to all the players.
How happy were you with David Cotterill and him getting the goal?
He was outstanding today. You talk about players having the right attitude when they’re not in the team and when they’re on the bench, and Cotts is that player. He has been wanting to get in the team for a while. We lost James Coppinger because his wife is having a baby so we wish them all the best, but David was starting anyway. The plan was to keep Duffy on the bench and give him a bit of a rest after his hamstring injury, but I thought both the wide players with and without the ball were brilliant.
We’re all delighted for Cotts, I wasn’t too sure about the celebration- that’s the most press ups I’ve eve seen him do, but everybody’s please for him because he has waited patiently, he’s been the ultimate professional when he hasn’t been in the team and he deserved that today. His overall performance was great.
On other results in the Championship..
You can look at it both ways, you can say it’s a shame that all the teams around us got a result but you can also say it’s a very good job that we won today and put in that performance. I keep saying it and keep repeating myself, but we have to concentrate on what we do. If the other results on the day go for us they do and if they don’t they don’t. But none of that matters unless we are picking up points ourselves.
On man of the match Chris Brown..
He was unplayable today. He was up against a very strong defence as well but Browny gave us a real platform to go and play the way we did. Him and Billy together worked tirelessly and when you’ve got that effort and desire that Browny gives us in the team, other players react to it. He was fantastic.
On Bongani Khumalo..
I spoke to Bongs last night and he’s still behind us all even though he’s in a hospital bed in South Africa. The last thing I said to the players before we went out was ‘Bongs wishes you all the best so go out and get a victory for the poor guy who is sitting in a hospital bed.’ I think all the players dedicated that win to him because he has been fantastic in defence since he’s been with us.