Needham Manager Kevin Horlock reflects on last night's draw with Stow.
DK: Unbeaten record still in tact!
KH: Yeah, look it was a decent workout for us, it was a little bit false I suppose in terms of they didn't come at us at all, so it was a different problem for us to face. Unfortunately tonight we couldn't break the deadlock, because if we did it would've been 5 or 6 I think. We've actually played quite well tonight, I was quite pleased with the balance. I was quite pleased with the rotation and movement, we'd played into the 9, which we'd spoken about last week, created loads of little one-twos and shots off at the edge of the box, but unfortunately they were all high, wide and glorious tonight, so I think we'll be working on shooting on Thursday - no doubt about that! On another day, we score 4, 5, 6 maybe, I think we've had it must be late 20, nearly 30 chances, think the 'keeper's made 4 saves, which tells you the whole story.
DK: Marco's been a bystander!
KH: Yeah, he just said then, he tried to make a meal of one of them at the end there when he wanted to make a save. He had nothing to do all night, and it's difficult, and it's frustrating at times, but like I said to the lads we will face that at times, probably not to that extreme. Teams will have a bit of possession and come out, which will create little openings, but certain times in games teams sit behind the ball on the edge of the box, like Stowmarket have, but tonight it's up to us, you can't complain, it's up to us to break it down and work a way. We did, we got in a few times, created a few chances, but we didn't have that ruthlessness tonight, which something to work on. There's always stuff to work on so we know we're not the finished article anyway, so overall I was really pleased with the performance, I was pleased to get minutes in, obviously Reece needed minutes, Ingers needed minutes, Jamie McGrath's come through another 60 minutes, and no reoccurrence of his knee injury, so it was a good work out for us!
DK: Would you still call it an entertaining game?
KH: I don't know, I'm looking at it from a different angle I suppose, as a supporter you want to see goals, you want to see chances, there weren't too many of them, we've had lots of shots - in and around the box. Like I said on another day it could've been 5, 6 goals in that and then I suppose it would've been. I thought we moved the ball around well, I thought it's very difficult when teams sit in, they didn't look to get out at all really to counter, I don't know, they probably only got in our half about 5 times the whole game I think. It was, probably from that aspect, a little bit one sided and probably a little bit tedious to watch at times.
DK: Do you feel what was said before the game and at half-time paid off to some degree?
KH: Yeah, we just wanted to play at a decent tempo, thought we did first half. I thought we moved the ball, the rotation was good, we got in good areas, we just didn't have that final touch. We've hit the post and crossbar haven't we, but I think if the ball goes in the net, you'd like to think they'd come out a little bit more then, but obviously we'll never know, because it didn't happen. So that's on us, we just needed to get that ruthlessness and that final end product, that final pass, that final shot to get our noses in front, and then you can dictate, and play as much football as you want if they're going to sit off.
DK: It's that clinical nature that still needs a bit of improvement.
KH: Yeah, although the thing about today I was pleased, because in the past we have just gone wide all the time, Reece played in the ten, Tev then going in there making a lot in the ten I thought, we played in those central areas a lot more than we have done, which is something that we're looking to do, just to have a little bit of variation going forward. I thought we did it quite well, Jamie held the ball up well first half, then when we played into Seth we got shots off in the areas around the box that we've spoken about. So from that point of view I'm really pleased, because the lads have listened and taken it on board and executed it, it's just that final shot, we were under the ball and over the bar today.
DK: Finally had the whole squad (except Taylor) available!
KH: Yeah, which was nice! Obviously trying to get lads minutes, rotating them around so we've got obviously one more game left now and then we can play the proper stuff, where we're playing for points, and points mean prizes Drew, don't they?!
DK: Of course they do, especially after last year!
KH: I was trying to forget about last year mate.
DK: Nah, you're not getting away from last year Kev, I'll make sure of it! Do you know if Taylor will be back on Saturday?
KH: I don't know, he's playing in a game tonight so depending on how that went, whether they decide to make an offer for him or not, but we'll find out I imagine in the next couple of days. Obviously if they don't, yeah he'll be available for Saturday.
DK: Cambridge City on Saturday, that could be another similar test.
KH: We'll see, we'll see, we're in good shape, we've got no injuries, lads starting to look fit. Obviously Keiran got a few minutes tonight, missed last game, we're shaping up quite well, so that'll be a test for us or Saturday, but we'll train Thursday and then we'll have a full week training leading into the Stratford game.
DK: Second half tonight we had a bit of an unorthodox centre back partnership, I think it was Kyle and Jake at one point?!
KH: Yeah, I've got good players, they can all play anywhere more or less. I took Dan off, Dan's played a lot of games in pre-season, little bit tight so obviously took him off. I was going to put Jake there, as he did so well Saturday, but Hammo was comfortable going in there, he can play as a defender so yeah, just a like for like really, then Keiran had a bit of cramp late on having not played, so I then I moved Jake Dye into a centre half. So it was Jake and Hammo, our two full-backs from last year, but we were comfortable. Look, we could more less play with no defenders tonight, we didn't really have to defend that much, so it was pretty comfortable for them (our defence) anyway.
DK: Making more competition for places!
KH: Yeah, and that's what it is! We've got really good squad depth in terms of it's balanced, I've got 2 players for every position more or less. Obviously Reece could play left-back, we've got Tommy Smith there. We've got centre halves, Jake can play centre half, Hammo can play centre half now. We've got 3 right-backs, Tev can play there, Hammo and Jake. Midfield we've got an abundance of players that can play in there and in the 10, it's good! We've got Ingers, Seth and Jamie, Ollie can play up top, we've got Pagey who can pay up top. So the balance is really good, and with everyone being fit it's going to give me a bit of a headache come first game of the season.
DYLAN WILLIAMS SHORT POST MATCH REACTION V STOWMARKET | 25.07.2023
DK: How would you summarise today's game?
DW: Good to get minutes in the tank. Massive keep ball session to be honest and if I could've hit the target tonight should have scored 3 myself.
DK: How do you feel preparation for the new season is going?
DW: Really well were doing things right and the football is improving each week. Another clean sheet tonight which is a positive.
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