Alex Davey believes a lack of focus during the closing moments of Tuesday night’s 1-1 draw with Coventry City proved costly for the side in the end.
Speaking to The Iron Player after a late goal from the hosts denied his side all three points from their trip to the Ricoh Arena, Davey highlighted the fact that the game isn’t over until the referee says so.
Davey told us: “I thought we didn’t deserve a draw, we should have got all three points but again we’ve let it slip and I think that it’s just us being lazy in the mind.
“We thought the game was over but we have to wait until the whistle goes.”
United have done well away from home these past few months, making it nine away league games unbeaten after the draw with the Sky Blues, and Davey believes keeping the mentality of not losing going, combined with playing on a bigger pitch to expand their play, has given them the impetus to succeed on their travels.
Davey added: “I think it was better playing on a wider pitch but it was quite bobbly.
“It was difficult to get your touch under and play it on the floor, but the wider pitch was better for how we want to play.
“It’s definitely good to keep that run going.
“It’s good to not have lost but I think we deserved more than a draw. I think that’s the main disappointing really, as we fought and we fought but not for long enough.”
The Ricoh Arena has a stadium capacity of over 32,000, the biggest in League One, and Davey commented on the change of playing in such a big stadium.
Davey said: “It’s a lovely stadium. It was a good atmosphere and a great game, but unfortunately it had a sad end to it.”
The Chelsea loanee partnered Niall Canavan for the first time during the game, and he spoke about playing with the former Republic of Ireland U21 defender, and also what it was like to be restored to the starting XI.
Davey added: “It was really good. He spoke to me the whole game, kept telling me to get up, go here and he when I said something to him he listened to me, so it was a good partnership.
“It’s nice to be back playing, that’s what I’ve came here to do really.
“Hopefully I’ve played well enough to keep myself in the side this time.”
Davey hasn’t started for the Iron since the 2-2 draw in the FA Cup third round tie back at the beginning of January, and he told us about how he’s been keeping himself match fit.
Davey shared with us: “I’ve been doing extra and then there are training days when we’re in Forest Pines resting, so it’s just doing extra work and doing stuff in the gym with Adam Hearn, so it’s good to keep ticking over.”
Speaking about the Swindon team United will face on Saturday specifically, Davey believes the Iron team is strong enough to hold their own with any side in the division on their day, while also remarking on facing a good friend of his, John Swift, who like Davey is a Chelsea academy graduate on loan in League One, and what he can do to stop him.
Davey rounded off saying: “He’s been doing well and he’s scored a few goals and quite a lot of people have been raving about him at the minute.
"Hopefully, whether I do play or I don’t I will be able to keep him quiet because he’s a good player.
"I don’t think we’ve got to worry too much about their position because I feel we’ve got a very strong team, we just let ourselves down in the last few minutes as we often do something silly.
"I think we’ve got the potential to be a lot higher than we are at the moment.”
See much more from Alex Davey, Gary McSheffrey and Mark Robins on The Iron Player.