“We retained the ball better today”

Andy Gowens was obviously a happy man after the 4-1 victory at Hebburn, but comparing it with the Sunderland RCA game in midweek he commented “It’s close margins, we didn’t do that badly on Tuesday night but we retained the ball better today, the passing, the movement was good.
“In the first ten minutes we struggled a bit with Michael Richardson’s movement but once we controlled that we went on and controlled the game. Maybe because we were on the front foot a bit more, we wanted to get at them because they struggle a bit defensively. It was just about getting at them and the lads did really well today, they worked hard and did the dirty work as well the clinical finishes.”
He was pleased with the debut of Andrei Ardelean “Considering he hasn’t played for three months he’s done very well. He’s a strong lad, he’s quick, just something different to what we’ve got and that’s the good thing about him. He could be a great asset.”
“The goals are coming around the team with Olly and Peter both scoring today. Peter’s missed a few chances recently so I told him we needed that one today! It’s great not relying just on Jack and of course he’s broken the record, and it’s not finished yet! He’s phenomenal at what he does and that’s what I’ve liked about him from the beginning.”
Andy agreed that this was possibly the result of the season so far. “Definitely, and we’ve got to build on that now. It’s always been there even when we haven’t played well, there’ve been flashes of the movement that can destroy teams but they didn’t always have the end product, but we’ve done that today. It was a bit like the Benfield game, getting the end product. As I say, we got that today, it makes a massive difference and that’s what it about if you can do that. Certainly the red wine tastes a lot better on a Saturday night after a day like this and I’ll sleep a lot better!”