Harrogate Town AFC

Watch assistant manager Paul Thirlwell's pre-Oldham interview here…
 


Thirlwell on last Saturday's defeat against Newport County…

I think with where Saturday was concerned, it was just nowhere near good enough. The performance and the whole day really was not the standards they we're accustomed to with this group. It's not nice to say but that's not said very often in fairness towards this group of players, whether it be this group or in recent years.

The losses previous to that to be fair, have been against all sides in and around the top seven, top five, top three at the minute and we're playing against really good sides.

That being said, we back ourselves against anybody on the day, but I don't think the performances against Forest Green or Northampton was anywhere near the same as the performance on Saturday, where everybody has to hold their hands up and take accountability for the really poor day.

So, the other ones were not to the same extent as Saturday, but naturally, when you lose a few games in a row you're disappointed and you want to put it right.

On remaining levelheaded during dips in form…

We believe in the group of players that we've got and it's easy to focus on the negatives of Saturday or equally, we've had good wins to focus purely on the successes of results. You have to be fairly level and take the highs and lows as they come. What we can't take is again the manner of the display on Saturday because that won't be acceptable.

You're not going to win every football match; you are going to lose some but there's a way in which to lose and that quite clearly wasn't the way to do it on Saturday. Nine times out of ten though, we always get a performance and effort in a side that tries to do the right things, and that's what we'll be hoping to get on Saturday.

On seeing a positive reaction in training…

They've been great but I'd be very surprised and the manager would be very surprised if it were anything else. But yes, they've been focused. Naturally, like every team, whether you win or lose, you're still trying to focus on the things that you need to be better at and that's what we've done this week.

On new signings settling into the group…

I think Brahima and Josh both hit the ground running in that performance against Carlisle and again at Luton when they both come on and Brahima was excellent on the day. Not so clever as everybody else wasn't on Saturday either, but they're both young lads and both learning their trade and we feel this is the right place to do that and they've done ever so well since they've come in.

It was difficult for (Leon) Legge the other day. It was his first game and he didn't really have any time to train with us and he was thrust straight into a game where again, everybody disappointed and he was part of that. But I suppose as a new lad you want to hit the ground running and be helped by people around you but unfortunately, that wasn't the case.

We want to move on from that now and look forward to a great game on Saturday and being back at home.

On whether there will be a boost for the squad playing back at home…

Definitely. It didn't help and it's absolutely no excuse whatsoever but it reminded you of what it used to be like going to Newport and having no fans there at all.

It was the same for them but I think being back at home and looking at the ticket sales, they're going ever so well again which is fantastic news. Let's get in there, let's get everybody behind us because everybody that's in the ground on the day - bar the Oldham fans - wants the same thing, and that's three points for ourselves. We also have to give them something to cheer about and we hope to do that again, as we have done in previous games.

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