We spoke to Paul Driver following the Pre-Season friendly with Southend United.
Paul, it was "honours even" tonight - how do you think it went?
The first half was better than the second - We've been trying to drum into the players what they should do without the ball, and what to do with it - loads of pressing when they don't have the ball, keeping it and being patient when they do have it. In the first half I didn't think that was too bad, but I thought in the second half we tried to force it a little bit too much. Whether that was because many of them are getting their first full game under their belts, so perhaps a bit of tiredness there, mental and physical I don't know. Certainly in the second half, without being massively under pressure, I didn't think we were are good with the ball as we were in the first, and the closing down wasn't as good. Having said that, there were seven or eight players who got a full 90 minutes, and we still have three pre-season games to go, so that's a lot of players who have the full game-time under their belts, and hopefully they'll benefit from that.
There were one or two players who had played last night as well?
Yes, we needed a look at Craig Farrell, Jamie Day and Max Porter following the knocks they had, so they got 45 minutes or so at Newmarket, and then a similar time tonight. We are happy with how they got through tonight as well - they seem to have come through the game OK.
There were also one or two players missing from the squad, such as Justin Miller and Aaron O'Connor?
Yes, Justin played at Newmarket, and picked up a little niggle on the leg, and Aaron is still coming back from the injury he picked up at Ilfracombe, so they weren't risked.
As you said, there are still the three friendly games to go, and there are also the "Diamonds XI" games such as the one at Newport Pagnell on Friday evening - do you expect to make further use of them as you did with the Newmarket game?
We aren't sure at the moment - we'll have to think about that tomorrow. We call those games Rushden & Diamonds XI purposefully as we are playing a senior side so we can use the Professional or Youth team players as necessary.
Finally, you were in charge tonight - was Justin away scouting?
No, he was unwell, but I'm sure he'll have recovered by tomorrow, when I can update him on the draw and a clean sheet against a League Two side, without being under a massive amount of pressure on our goal. He'll be pleased enough with that - although it's not about results at this stage, it's about getting the minutes into the legs, and getting them to do what they are doing in training.
Thank You
