Manager Graham Alexander has been providing his reaction following the 0-0 home draw with Blackpool.
While there was a sense of frustration after the match that United couldn’t break down their opposition, the boss also took positives from the performance, which saw a fourth successive clean sheet.
He spoke to iFollow Iron after the game, and also provided an injury update on recent signing Andrew Crofts.
ON SATURDAY’S DRAW…
GA: There’s a little bit of frustration because we were dominant, especially in the second half, and looking for that breakthrough. If we look at ourselves though, we didn’t really create clear-cut chances against a resolute Blackpool team. I thought they were very good and we knew they were a good outfit before the game. They came here with a gameplan, though I felt the first half was a bit more open, and they looked dangerous on the counter-attack. We had to be aware of that while trying to create our opportunities. In the second half, we became the dominant team and the majority of it was spent in good areas for us, but we just couldn’t find that breakthrough to really open them up. Sometimes you have to give the opponent credit for that, and on the same side we have to look at what we can do better to create those chances.
ON A FOURTH STRAIGHT CLEAN SHEET IN THE LEAGUE…
GA: We spoke in the changing room about the positives to take from the game, especially the defensive part of the team. To get another clean sheet is really pleasing, but there was a bit of frustration because we look to win all the games – especially at home. Sometimes you have to hold your hand up and recognise when an opponent has shown you massive respect by not opening up, because teams know we have good attacking threats from all over the pitch and we can score goals. That’s something for us now to build on and try to improve, because I’m sure that won’t be the only game we have like that. We’re delighted with the point, the clean sheet and will take it into Tuesday now. I felt our defensive side was very good today. We didn’t give any needless fouls away and I felt we defended with real good discipline, on the front foot and aggressively in the right way. We cut them down to limited chances.
ON THE TEAM’S ENDEAVOUR…
GA: What I will credit my players with is they are constantly banging that door down to try and score. We’ve seen it in other games where we’ve got the winner late on, because we’re that type of team. You can’t always get your own way but it’s important you don’t give anything silly away at the opposite end. Teams have their threats and Blackpool certainly have those, they have a lot of pace and power in their team. We had to be wary of that, especially on the counter-attack. We have to improve on that and try to get the three points on Tuesday if we can. It’ll be another tough game, but it might possibly be a different type of match, so we’ll look at that on Sunday when we analyse Blackburn. We have to look at the positives from this game and there were certainly quite a few of those.
ON ANY KNOCKS FROM THIS GAME…
GA: Murray Wallace got a dead leg in a challenge during the first-half, but it takes a lot for Murray to get off the pitch, so hopefully that will settle down over the weekend. Apart from that, there’s the usual graze here and there, but the lads are looking in good shape.
ON ANDREW CROFTS NOT BEING IN THE SQUAD…
GA: He twisted his ankle in training. It was in a tackle with one of the other players and he’s landed awkwardly on his ankle, so he’ll be missing for a couple of weeks yet. It’s disappointing for us and for him as well because he’s been chomping at the bit to make his mark on the team and the club. Unfortunately, we’ll have to wait two or three weeks for him to do that.
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