LA: Maybe for some people. Listen, Chris, I said before the game, as a tongue-in-cheek, we picked the team out of tom bowler again today and luckily the tom bowlers worked and we've got a result because Saturday the tom bowler that we picked the team out of didn't
do us a job, so we're disappointed Saturday.

But we were more disappointed with the reaction that we got off some sections of our supporters. I don't mind saying that on camera because the over-the-top nature of some of the criticism we got would have been laughable if it wasn't embarrassing.

You know, we've built a new team. We played incredibly well Saturday, and people were reacting to the result rather than looking at the performance. If I was a Belper fan, which as well as being here as manager for nearly four years, I class myself as a Belper person now, been here that long, I'd have been there on Saturday looking at that team going, ‘I like what I see.’

We're seeing a good, robust squad that's leaving everything on the pitch. Sometimes in football you don't get what you deserve. Saturday we could have won that game 6-0.
We lost it 1-0 and we got absolutely peppered. Tonight, we played just as well. We snuck probably our scruffiest chance over the line and we've won it.

And I'll tell you now, everyone will be saying how great we are tonight. So, a bit of perspective and balance I think is needed. Football's not an exact science.
It's a work in progress, but I just said to the players that I've never been so pleased for a group of lads in 12 or 13 years of management because they easily could have gone hiding a little bit tonight. A lot of them were as disappointed as I was with the comments that were made. We even got criticism for the defence that we're picking.

We've let one goal in in four games. But what happens is when you don't get results in football, you give people a stick to beat you with. So that's that one out of the way.
I'm glad we've won. We probably weren't quite as good as Saturday, so it'll be interesting if we get loads of negative comments tonight on the game, on par with what we got Saturday. I don't think we will.

But the lads have started the game fantastic. Really hard for me to leave Curt Burrows out as he was superb on Saturday.

Really difficult to leave Skip out again because we know now important a player, he is now, a good player he is. But the back four are playing superb.

And at the minute, the balance looks good. So, we've got the result. We deserve the result.
And listen, no one can tell me that game shouldn't have been 4 or 5-0 either because that's a battering in spells. That first half, I mean, to be fair, at half-time, I thought, here we go again because the ball won't go in. We had loads of chances.

It wasn't the number nine tonight because Draper was in there. We had chance, chance, chance. And when it doesn't go in, just like Saturday, you start to think, well, is it going to be another one of them nights? But the experience to hold the nerve there for the lads because at 1-0 up, with 10 minutes left, it feels like they're building pressure because they're throwing bodies forward.

But KP's not made a save again. So, if we now look on the bigger picture, now we've got that win. I think the league table's not quite so bad, but we're 10 days into the season.
That's why I don't overreact. I look at performance. I look at progress.
And I'm genuinely excited about that team. We look so solid off the ball. The work rate’s fantastic.

The squad has depth and legs. And again, I just semi-apologise to the boys who didn't get on the pitch because we're going to need them all. And it's a long, long season.
And it's just, you know, there's frustration. There's got to be frustration there for some of them. But I feel this group's capable of something.

And I think, again, my biggest disappointment Saturday was that, you know, I wish people would see that. It's too easy just to jump on and get on our backs when we don't get a result. But the bigger picture is that's a good squad.

And they're working really hard. And I think we look decent. And I can feel that someone's going to get a rattling soon because there's no way we can keep playing like that and only scoring one or, you know, on Saturday none.

So, when we do start finding our shooting boots, we're going to be dangerous. And then if we can keep the back door shut, which is what we didn't do enough last year, which is why we've tweaked the midfield this year and gone for two sitters and been a bit more robust and wide lads and maybe worked back in a little bit more. All these things the fans don't see.

We're tweaking stuff. We're using our experience. We're learning from the past.
And we're trying to be more solid. That's working. So, if we can now get that structure going the other way and we can start taking more chances, but keep the back door shut, as I just said, yes, we'll be hard to beat.

Long, old season. We won't get carried away. But that was not much more like it.
It was exactly the same as Saturday, but this time we got the result. So well done to the boys. Full credit to them.

Hopefully get a few pats on the back off some of the supporters in the bar and online tonight. And then we bounce into next Saturday in the FA Cup and we want to win that as well.

CN: Just talking about that FA Cup match tonight, obviously with seventeen players, couldn't fit into sixteen. Unfortunately, Lewis had to drop out. Still got Jude to come back into the squad as well, making it 18 to 16. Will you be looking to make any rotation for the cup match?

LA: I just said it, by the way, we want to win the FA Cup.
I meant Saturday, not the FA Cup. We're going to win the FA Cup. It's difficult with the squad.

Obviously, last season we had times when we had two-man, three-man bench. So, we've got eighteen when everyone's fit and available, nineteen including young Josh Hassett. It's such a hard one with Lewis because he's a really good player, got loads of potential.

But obviously we've gone for Jono and Jordan. Athletes, work horses, win the battle every week. And then obviously tonight we had Curt Burrows on the bench, and we just thought for attacking options, we had our reasons for doing it.

So not a nice conversation to have to have. Unfortunately, that's football. And listen, Lewis is still a big part of our plans and whatnot.

We might see if we can get him some games, keep him fit and get his confidence back up. But we've put a team of blokes out there and we've manned that game. We kept a clean sheet and we've won it.

And yes, like I say, Saturday might make a few changes because lads do need minutes to keep sharp. But it won't be changes to weaken us or to whatever else. We're going to win that game, and we need to have it, breathe confidence and all the rest of it.
I'm hoping that's just the start tonight.

CN: And just finishing with a word on the pitch, we've seen some shockers in pre-season in the league, and I've seen some horrific footage on social media as well. But looking at the carpet out there...

LA: Yeah, and Chris the groundsman always does a fantastic job.

I do speak to him via text quite a lot. I think Phil Varney's been helping out watering every other night as well. So, thanks to him.

Pitch is the best in the league, on par with Loughborough Uni. So brilliant, yes. And if we can keep it like that all season, we can play football like that all season.

Again, we've had it levelled at us. It was last year that we were too direct at times. We brought Southy in.

But obviously there's reasons why we do it horses for courses. But again, if you're there on Saturday and you're there tonight, you see a team that can play through the thirds and we move it quick. You can't single anyone out tonight.

But I think I just want to shout out for Jack Edwards because I think Saturday, especially first half and then tonight, just unbelievable what a footballer he is. So great to have him.

Mansell was brilliant in that first half. Really sad he got that ankle roll. We'll have to assess how bad it is. But loads of positives.

Let's go and do it again Saturday.