So Michael, how much do you know about Altrincham, do you have reports on them?
We've had reports on them, we've also got DVD footage of a couple of their games which we've managed to get and we've also had a look at Luton vs. Kidderminster this week, just to keep an eye on those teams.
They've had a fairly decent season haven't they?
They have, they're a very solid team, can probably beat anyone on their day and are one of those teams who are difficult to beat and they've of course beaten us on our own home turf. They've also had a couple of good results going into this game, they've drawn against York and beaten Kettering so it's not an easy place to travel to. We'll be well prepared, the team will be briefed tomorrow on exactly what to expect and any areas or weaknesses that we can see to expose.
Kettering were poor on Tuesday but what about Altrincham themselves?
You've got to give credit to the team that wins football matches at the end of the day, they may have faint hopes of stringing a set of results together that might see them make a late charge to make that last playoff position if other teams drop points but at the same time they're in a reasonably comfortable position, they're probably not going to end up at the other end of the table. So they'll go into the game confident with the knowledge that they can enjoy themselves, they're under not threat in the league table and try to build on what's been a couple of decent results for them.
Speaking of confidence, you can't have any more yourself.
An eight goal win gives the players plenty of confidence, they trained hard today but you can sense amongst them that it's now the latter part of the week and they've moved on And they're thinking about the Altrincham match as we've always said that the most important match is the next one, you can't look too far ahead at Oxford or other games, the next three points available to us are the most important. They've trained well today and look sharp, they're bubbly, full of confidence, which should mean they go into the game with a positive frame of mind.
Presumably it's going to be more like Histon and Tamworth than Gateshead, you certainly wouldn't expect to go and win 8-0 there, will it be a case of grinding something out?
In both those games we had to have platforms and good defensive performances to go and get the three points. Defensively with the back five, and you can include the whole team,we have been tremendous of late and gives us the chance to win a game 1-0 and that'll be the same on Saturday. They've proved at Histon and Tamworth that if you're in the game, it's 0-0, even if you're not playing at your best and are without the ball, that back five have allowed us to go on and win the football matches, so if we restrict Altrincham to a few chances, that we're always in the game and not chasing it then hopefully we'll give ourselves a platform to turn the point into three.
