Stefan Laird v Peterhead

Highland News & Media

Elgin City assistant manager Stefan Laird pleased with Black & Whites’ 2-1 victory over Peterhead in cinch League 2 New Year derby at Borough Briggs

Transcript

00:00 You and Alan will be absolutely delighted to be your first win in charge of Elgant?

00:03 Yeah we are, delighted and we hope everybody else is as well.

00:07 The players put on an amazing performance today and the spirit,

00:10 togetherness and fight that they showed. If they continue to do that then they'll pick up points.

00:14 We're asking a lot of them, it's been a big change for a lot of them. We're asking them to cover a

00:19 lot more ground than previous they were covering and they've been really receptive to it and

00:23 hopefully everybody who came and watched the game today can see the beginnings of that starting to

00:28 come through. I thought we carried a real threat on the break, it looked really dangerous and

00:31 probably in the end should have won by more.

00:33 Make no mistake, you're up against a very good Peter Headside today, very dangerous lots going

00:37 forward and defiant defending, keeping them out until the last gas penalty kick and denying Tom a

00:43 clean sheet.

00:43 Yeah we've worked a lot without the ball in training in terms of the shape and the structure

00:48 and as we get more fitness into the boys we'll continue to move that five yards,

00:53 ten yards up the pitch as we cover more ground and press a wee bit higher.

00:57 They restricted a lot of good players today to limited chance, they had a great chance in the

01:02 sort of last minute and that makes a great save. I think apart from that, crosses into the box,

01:07 set pieces, in terms of clear cut opportunities they didn't cut us open an awful lot but they'll

01:14 do really well this season. They've got a really good group, some of them that we know really well

01:18 that are really dangerous so the players should be delighted and hopefully the fans go home

01:22 happy that they backed them from the start and the players repaid them today.

01:25 Two really well worked goals, the first one over Saint Russell Dinkle diving forward,

01:30 great chance for Ryan who put in a great show today and took his chance well.

01:34 Yeah there's a lot of young boys in our team so there's a lot of pressure on Russell,

01:40 Drapes, Jake, Coops to lead them and I thought Russell today was outstanding. I find myself

01:47 shouting that a lot in training and I think it's a bit of a running joke in the changing room

01:50 already but when we can find Russell on the break in the pocket either side of the central column

01:54 and he turns and he gets at people who look really, really dangerous. We've just got to work on the

01:58 movement and the athleticism now for boys to peel out and get in behind when we go and do that.

02:03 The second goal is a bit of individual technical excellence, a bit of quick thinking which again,

02:10 there's no breaks in training, it's ball back in straight away but the cross is fantastic and

02:14 Jonesy's made a great run, gets himself in front of the defender and scores and I think Russell

02:18 again could have had another near the end but he was absolutely superb. I don't think he got a man

02:26 of the match did he? He got my man of the match. Ryan got the man of the match. Yeah well Ryan was

02:31 excellent. Ryan played three different positions today which for a boy his age is not a mean feat

02:37 and scored a great goal, took it early and goalkeeper wasn't able to get down in time because

02:42 of that. And you speak about Jonesy, obviously you go with his experience from the start,

02:46 you've got younger, possibly quicker forwards on the bench but that experience and that strength

02:51 that he shows and the different kind of dimension that he gives you in attack really was important

02:55 to do. Yeah, to be honest, there's a brand of football that Alan wants the team to play

02:59 and that's not something that you can implement over a three-week period.

03:02 That's going to take a wee bit longer and we'll edge towards that and so having Jonesy there today

03:07 but we know we're going to spend a reasonable amount of time without the ball and asking the

03:11 players to be comfortable in doing that and controlling the game without the ball just

03:14 because you don't have possession doesn't mean you're not in control of the game. We're showing

03:18 them where we want them to go and trying to lock them into certain areas and big Jonesy gave us

03:22 that target today and we asked him to be a wee bit more physical, a wee bit more of a problem

03:26 and to try when he can. We know again it's not his game to spin and run in behind and

03:31 he gets the goal from that and it was thoroughly deserved for him. A couple of days time a transfer

03:34 window opens, I'm guessing you and Alan will be chatting the activity closely and looking

03:40 at the strength perhaps? Yeah absolutely, that would be the answer. I think there's

03:45 no secret that we need to and the boys need support so the board obviously won't probably

03:50 thank me and say that it's over to them to provide what the manager needs to go and give the players

03:54 that they've identified and if we get even half of those boys in not only will we be fighting but

04:01 we'll be looking even better and more dangerous going forward but we've got good players here

04:06 and it's not only important to bring in players that won't supplement them but to try and get a

04:10 couple of them tied down for next year and going forward. They're committed in training,

04:16 they've done really well and you couldn't ask any more of them today but like I said

04:21 that's sort of phase one that you're seeing there and we want to continue to try and step that off

04:26 the pitch as we go but it was a great foundation that we laid today and for me we thoroughly

04:32 deserved the victory.

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