Quick turnaround for Nelson as Iron get ready to host Bromley

The Iron’s interim manager Michael Nelson has reflected on the busy week gone by, and previewed Saturday's National League home fixture against Bromley.

The boss started by talking about the teams preparations for Saturday, saying: “It’s been good. The lads were off on Thursday, they had a rest, because the pitch was heavy on Wednesday night and they put a real shift in. They came in bright this morning and we had our usual meeting to go through the pre-match video and then our usual Friday session which is a bit of fun. They seem in good spirits and hopefully refreshed, recharged, and ready to go tomorrow.”

He continued to talk about the atmosphere since Wednesday, adding: “The natural high of winning helps but the news before kick off about the takeover added to that so it was a really positive night. The buzz around the place, and not just the ground, but the fans and the social media too, has been really good. Hopefully, we can continue that long into the weekend.” 

The gaffer then spoke about Bromley: “They’ve had the same manager and staff for a while so their philosophy and style is ingrained into the players. They’ll be a tough outfit, they’re very well organised, so it’ll be a tough test. We want to be on the front foot, we want to be aggressive, and we want more of what we did on Wednesday with some added bonuses, and hopefully we will come out on top.

“We’ll have to replicate parts of Wednesday, the first 20 minutes was very good with the ball in possession, and after that we defended really well. We don’t want to be defending for as long as we had to on Wednesday, we want to be more aggressive and play the game a bit higher. We’re at home so we want to take the game to them and be on the front foot, but there will be times when we need to operate on a mid or a low block and defend our box, which we did extremely well on Wednesday.”

Reagan Ogle came off on in midweek and Nelson provided an update on his situation, adding: “He’s fine, he recovered well. It was a cramp and he had a couple of knocks on his shin, but it settled down well and he trained fully today with no issues so he’s all good.” 

Jordan Hallam came off the bench against FC Halifax Town, and Nelson spoke about the attacker's return to contention following a hamstring injury: “He was good, he did well when he went on the pitch. He wanted the ball and he got on the ball every time we got a free kick in their half. I spoke to him today to ask how he felt and he just said it was brilliant to be back out there. He enjoyed it and hopefully those minutes can get stretched out and he can get back to playing a bigger contribution.” 

Liam Feeney travelled with the group as well, and the gaffer provided an update on his progress: “It was touch and go whether we would include him on Wednesday, but I thought with the surface being heavy we’d leave him out. I told him in the hotel before the game and he was fine with that, but I wanted him in and around the group because we were a young group on Wednesday. With him being club captain and a leader I wanted him to just bring them together. He did that and he’s in contention for the squad tomorrow.” 

Second year academy trainee Tyrell Sellars-Fleming made his senior debut against Halifax, and the boss praised his impact: “He’s been playing really well, Tony (Daws) and Rob (Watson) got in touch over the weekend, as they always do, and they gave us a report on how the young lads have done. They said it was as well as they’ve seen Ty play, he scored two and could have had a couple more, so after the match I made the decision of putting Ty on. I told him to run in behind, hold it up, and try and buy a couple of free kicks, and he did exactly what as asked of him. A good reward for him for doing well in the youth team and when he came on he did very well.” 

Nelson then spoke about the importance of the fans' support in tomorrow's game, adding: “Their support on Wednesday was brilliant. I think a few more came once the news broke, and the fans were brilliant. Hopefully, we can get all the usual fans plus a few extra as well to make some noise and make it a bit of a carnival atmosphere. They were fantastic on Wednesday and I said it after the game that I do believe their support helped us through the last 20 minutes with the noise from that far corner. I made sure the lads showed their appreciation at the end. Hopefully, we can get a good hostile atmosphere in here tomorrow and we can reward the fans with another three points.”