Head Coach Karl Robinson was full of praise not just for his players but also the travelling Yellow Army on Saturday as his team clinched a vital victory with a 1-0 win away at Doncaster Rovers.
“I am so happy for the fans” he told iFollow. “What a great turn out and I am starting to learn about the travelling fans and how important they are. I am starting to learn all about this football club, I think you always do as a Manager. You don’t know the true identity of a football club until you have seen the bad times and the good times.
“What people maybe didn’t know was that I came here with Charlton a few weeks ago and we were outstanding, probably the best we’d played in a long time and Doncaster scored in the 96th minute. So you can imagine how I felt and I was just praying it didn’t happen again in injury time!
“But the players were men today. People said my teams can’t fight, that they are all free flowing and full of energy. Well they saw a different side today because my players can fight as well, and that’s what I am so proud of.”
The only goal of the game came from James Henry, whose seventh goal since the turn of the year means he is averaging a goal every other game since January.
“James Henry has in some ways single-handedly kept us up” Karl said. “Think of the goal against Southend, the goal against Peterborough, and again today. Those goals have been massively important for us. He maybe had a case to come knocking on my door on Monday and ask why he wasn’t playing. He had a back problem because he was down to play at Wigan, not rested. But we knew he had half an hour in him today and we know he gets in the box and scores goals.”
United are not mathematically safe yet but 53 points should be enough to ensure League 1 football again next season.
“It’s been hard” Karl said.”This has been difficult. I have asked a lot from the players and they have responded. You can see they work hard in training, you can see the difference in matches and you can see how we are asking them to conduct themselves in games. I don’t think any team has ever gone down on 53 points so if we do we are very unlucky. And I don’t think I am that unlucky.”
See James Henry’s thoughts on the game plus full highlights, all in iFollow.