Assistant manager Gav Skelton spoke after the Cumberland Cup final against Workington.
“It was a tight game,” he said. “We expected a tight game, and one goal was always probably going to edge it.
“We had a lot of possession, but in the final third I can only recall two or three times we came close. We had a lot of blocked shots, Danny Eccles made a good save from Sam Hetherington, Anton Dudik had half a chance, but they always looked dangerous on the break, and we’ve got no complaints with the result.
“We got into some really good areas, and it’s the next pass, the next touch – we didn’t make the most of that. Perhaps when we didn’t score early we got a little bit anxious.
“Sometimes you have to give credit to the opposition, they got bodies behind the ball and we lacked that spark, creativity, whatever it was, that final touch to really work the keeper. We didn’t get enough bodies in the box and capitalise on good moments.”
“I felt the young lads performed well tonight,” he continued. “Sam Hetherington has benefited from his loan, we got some first years on the pitch, and that’s a good experience for them. To play in a cup final against players who’ve played at a good level, so they see the minimum standards they have to make, in front of a crowd, they will benefit from that.”
Jack Ellis came off early in the first half: “It’s a bit of a concern when he puts his hand up and wants to come off like that. Hopefully it’s nothing too serious, but when someone comes off that early it is a worry. He’ll be in early tomorrow and will get assessed.
“I’m sure we’ll have enough bodies for Saturday. Aran came back and performed well, I thought he did ok tonight. We’ll look at the lads out on loan, we’ll have a count up and see where we’re at.
“Derby is a good game to play in, isn’t it? If you’re a professional footballer, to have something at stake, to stop someone achieving something, it’s on TV and 32,000 people will be there.
"As a professional footballer you want to play in front of 32,000 people, you don’t know when you’ll get that opportunity again. We’ve got to look forward to it, grasp it and perform to the best level we possibly can.”
