Chris Wilder looks back on Cheltenham
Manager Chris Wilder praised his side’s resilience as they twice came back to claim a draw at Cheltenham on Saturday. Goals from Dave Kitson and Johnny Mullins kept United’s unbeaten start to the season going as they drew 2-2 at Whaddon Road, and afterwards Chris looked back on the strength of character shown by his side:
“I think with the injuries we had and the way the week had gone we showed a lot of resilience. Jake Wright and James Constable are both big players for us and it is a blow to the group to lose them. I thought the reaction from the players was first class. It was a tough game and I’m not trying to say that we did great but Cheltenham have not started the season as they wanted and we roll into town, bring a load of fans, and they will have seen it as ‘no motivation needed’ and a chance to kick start their season. They gave it a right go and we matched them.
“ I think it could have gone either way towards the end of the game so possibly a draw was the correct result”.
United were without captain Jake Wright and striker James Constable on Saturday, and Chris explained the nature of their injuries:
“Jake struggled through the game the week before and had an infection in his groin which meant he had to have an abscess cut out, which means four to six weeks. The incision is pretty deep so that is just a time one for him now. Beano’s scan results were inconclusive during the week and it wasn’t until the end of the week that we found out that he has got a chipped bone in the top of his foot so that will be a similar time out for him as well.”
Both players will miss Saturday’s home game against Chesterfield where the last two unbeaten records in League Two come head to head. It is a game that Chris can’t wait to come along:
“Chesterfield have started the season fantastically well and if you speak to any manager in the league I think they will say that Chesterfield are the team to beat. They have invested heavily over the summer, their bench is pretty strong and there are some good players that can’t even get into their eleven.
“They have really good competition so whatever team they pick we know we will have to be at our best”.
Chris wants as many fans as possible to come along and get behind The U’s:
“We need everybody there. We need everybody to roar us on because they will be expected to win and we have to make sure that nobody comes into our backyard and gets a result. Hopefully we can be strong, show the character and determination that we did at Cheltenham, and then it is all boiling up to a good game on Saturday.”
See video reaction and Highlights from Saturday right HERE
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