Bennett looks ahead to Altrincham home game

Iron new boy Richie Bennett has spoken about his debut against Eastleigh at the weekend and previewed Tuesday night's home game against Altrincham in the Vanarama National League (7.45pm kick-off).

The striker began by reflecting on his debut against Eastleigh, saying: “It was bittersweet. I don’t think we had a great first half as a team, we moved the ball slowly and we were too one dimensional. The gaffer told us at half time, and in the second half we came out and reacted. Personally, I think I did alright, winning personal battles and linking up the play. I was missing a goal but that will come with game time.”

Bennett was named in the starting line-up straight away, and he spoke about taking that opportunity, adding: “It gives me confidence as I want to come here and play. I want to try my best to keep them in the National League and that’s why I’ve come here. The gaffer believes in me that I can do my thing and go out there and show what I can do.” 

The attacker then spoke about the game itself, adding: “It seems like it’s going against us at the moment. Some of those decisions in the second half could have gone either way but they went in their favour. We have to keep working hard, staying positive, and it will change. That second half performance is what we have to build on and ultimately we have to take that and do it over the course of 90 minutes on Tuesday."

On playing under the lights on Tuesday night, Richie said: “You always want a chance to put things right and Tuesday is a great opportunity for us lads to put things right and give the fans what they want, which is some points.”

Next he spoke about Altrincham, who suffered a 4-0 defeat to Wealdstone at the weekend. He said: “They’ll be looking for a reaction as well. There are no easy fixtures in this league and if you go into a game thinking like that then it will catch you out. We know it’s going to be tough and they’ll want to prove a point, but ultimately we’ve got to go into it like it’s our cup final.” 

Richie finished by speaking about the importance of the fans, adding: “We’ve got to make it a game where they don’t want to be here. It’ll be freezing cold and the fans will be on them. We have to use that to our advantage. We need to give the crowd something to cheer about, get them up on their feet, and create that atmosphere.”

See more from Richie Bennett and Jimmy Dean on Iron Player.