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Interviews

Alexander reacts to point at Peterborough

13 February 2018

Interviews

Alexander reacts to point at Peterborough

13 February 2018

Manager Graham Alexander praised the Iron’s players after the 2-2 away draw at Peterborough United.

The hosts took the lead in the opening two minutes through Marcus Maddison, but a powerful hit by Ivan Toney in the 34th minute drew the two sides level.

However, seconds before the half-time whistle, Junior Morias scored to regain the advantage for the Posh.

The Iron grabbed another equaliser 60 minutes into the game as Ryan Yates’ close strike went off the post and in.

After the match, Alexander provided his reaction to iFollow Iron.

ON THE GAME…
GA: There was no pattern to the game when the first goal was scored, as half the team hadn’t even touched the ball yet. To go 1-0 down so early was really disappointing but, after that, I felt we dominated the game and pushed Peterborough with our play. We deservedly got an equaliser through Ivan Toney and continued to dominate the game. We were caught with a suckerpunch just before half-time, but we composed the players at half-time and told them they need to go out and do the same things. The players were superb and showed fantastic confidence and composure on the ball. We got the equaliser and I just felt it would be a matter of time before we got the winning goal. We went close on a couple of occasions and could have scored right at the end with Cameron McGeehan’s 30-yard strike. The fans saw their team play well and commit fully to a good game of football. Peterborough were always a danger on the counter-attack because of the personnel they have. They do have a lot of pace in the attacking positions but I felt we managed that really well. With the ball, we were superb and created some good opportunities. We took two and could have taken more but I was delighted with the performance. I know the result was 2-2 but I felt that was a winning-type performance and the players were superb. I felt we deserved three points, but a point is good and we have to take that performance into Saturday’s game.

ON MAKING FOUR CHANGES…
GA: I was delighted with the performance of the team. The four changes was to keep the energy in the team. We’d have made those changes even if we’d won on Saturday because we wanted to keep the performance level high. The players showed their quality all the way through the game tonight.

ON RYAN YATES’ IMPACT…
GA: I felt he grew into the game. It was his first game in League One and the tempo caught him in the first 10 minutes or so. He’s an intelligent player though and realised to move the ball quicker and the type of game it was, and the quality/speed of it. For the next 70 minutes, he was superb. I thought we dominated the midfield area. His goal was a bonus for that. Both the goals were of the highest quality. He deserved the goal. He has a great character and a fantastic future in front of him. He gives us great competition in that midfield area. We’ve bedded players in before throwing them straight into the team, so they know how we play and so they can see the competition and type of football. He was excellent.

ON MARNICK VERMIJIL MISSING OUT…
GA: He tweaked his hamstring in the warm-up for training on Monday. It’s really disappointing. It is kind of understandable because he’s only played three or four games all season. If we hadn’t have had a midweek game, I think he’d have been okay because he would have had a few days to recover (from Saturday) inbetween games, but it’s frustrating. Maybe it’s a bit of an overload issue for him. We’ve brought Levi Sutton in, who I felt played really well tonight. Marnick will probably be missing for a couple of weeks.

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