Get behind the U's on Wednesday night
Oxford United look to bounce back when they welcome Fleetwood to Grenoble Road on Wednesday night. Head Coach Michael Appleton is looking for a reaction after defeat at Wembley against Coventry City in the Checkatrade Trophy Final on Sunday, a day that he says was his worst in football:
“It hurt big time” he told Yellow Player HD earlier. “ A lot of bad stuff has happened, there have been a lot of hard times including my playing career being ended. But Sunday was probably the worst day I’ve had in football. I looked back at the game in my head but I won’t watch it properly: I refuse to watch it.
“It was a tough half an hour straight after the game when I was doing the press. I was probably talking a load of rubbish because I was trying to keep it under control. It was a difficult moment. We will look back at Wembley over the summer and say ‘ok what could we have done better, is there anything we could have done better or is it just one of those things.
“But football as we all know moves on quickly and luckily from our point of view we have another game on Wednesday so you have to put it behind you. They say it makes you stronger so let’s wait and see.”
United now have just six games left to chase down the play-off places and Michael knows how important victory over Uwe Rosler’s Fleetwood would be for the U’s:
“Absolutely; we have six games and need to win them all Even if we do, there is no guarantee we would make it, but I will be absolutely amazed if we don’t reach the play-offs with another eighteen points. But we aren’t stupid we’ve got some tough games coming up, starting with Fleetwood and some tough away games like Bradford and Millwall, two sides fighting like hell to make sure they stay or play in the playoffs.
“Fleetwood beat us early in the season and are a side that have been there in that top six for a long, long time. I’m hoping to get some kind of reaction from the players ; the first ten minutes of the game will be an indication of how the game might go. But they don’t come any bigger than Wednesday.”
See the whole, fascinating interview in Yellow Player HD
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