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Godders Reflects: Stratford Town (A)

Godders Reflects: Stratford Town (A)

Sean Galea-Pace26 Aug 2018 - 09:20
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After Lowestoft Town’s excellent 3-1 win away at Stratford, Sean Galea-Pace catches up with manager Jamie Godbold to reflect on a brilliant away day.

What a win! What is your reaction to it?
I thought it was real tough, hard-fought win to be honest. First half, I felt we started off really well and scored a goal which I felt we deserved. It was a great finish by Bammo from just outside the area and for about half an hour we looked good value for it. They had a spell of good play, which every team is going to have and it was really disappointing to concede just before half time. But at half time with Elvijs struggling, we made the decision to put Andy on and it felt a bit like back to the walls stuff with injuries and everything against us. But in the last ten minutes with Fowkes coming on, I’m really pleased for him to get his first goal of the season because I think he’s deserved it over the course of the first four games. Now I have to endure Andy’s clean sheet for the journey back!

That was Andy’s first game for Lowestoft Town in five years, do you know if he’s been keeping fit?
Did you not see him in his green top?! I think the answer to that is clear to everyone in attendance today. One thing he did say was that he was one appearance closer to my 500 and I think one thing that surprised him was how many of the current squad didn’t know he played in goal. So, when we said he was going in, Henry Pollock looked confused and was like “what?” and I think he coped relatively well.

And the double save?
I felt it was a great first save and the second one where it took him about ten minutes to actually get up again. I could have saved the second one! But I suppose that’s what the pair of us bring as managers is that in emergency situations we can probably come on and maybe do a job. We rallied round together and on reflection of the game, I think the three points is just about right.

Thinking about selection, you mixed it up a bit today with players in various different positions. There was Kieran Higgs at left-back, Armani Schaar on the right. What was your thinking with those decisions?
I think we have a squad of players that we need to manage, and it’s a good squad of players, with two games coming up over 48 hours. We have to manage the squad and a couple of injuries with it being Fisky’s first game of the season, Pollock is just coming back from injury, Reiss Awuah is just coming back too so we have to monitor his progress so we have four or five players that we need to look after. But with Connor Ingram being ill today, our team may have looked slightly different if he was fit. But it’s a message that we believe in everyone. When you come in, do the best you can to do a job for us. I felt Armani was terrific for us, Higgsy was good in an unusual position, Jacek Zielonka and Fisky did well playing higher up the pitch for us so they’re taking on messages and implementing them without really practicing. The positive aspect from that is that shows the flexibility and versatility this squad of players has.

It’s back-to-back wins, it can only breed confidence. But, how much of a different test will Kings Lynn be on Monday?
They’re the league favourites, I’m not sure how they got on today but they’ll be up there come the end of the season. They’ve had a fantastic year and as I said in the programme notes before the game, it will tell us how far away we are from the top teams in the division. I think we’ve come a long way in a short space of time and I honestly cannot wait for our young lads to be put to the test and see how they cope with it. They’ve coped with everything that teams have thrown at them so far and I think the Kings Lynn game will be another level and let’s see how they do.

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