Nathan Haslam was obviously delighted with his team’s performance after their 6-2 win against Sunderland RCA, but when asked if it exceeded his expectations, he replied “The scoreline did, but as I’ve just said to the management team, they played just as well against Shildon but didn’t put chances away. After going one goal down today I think we showed a bit of character, a bit of class and we were clinical. I think both their two goals were sloppy to give away but we had to work hard for all of ours. It’s been a clinical day and I’m chuffed to bits for them. Its goals that make the difference, I think when we’ve gone one up in the past we haven’t really put teams to bed but today but we did. That showed and you can see that everyone’s got an extra yard in them and there’s a lot more confidence. For the full 90 minutes they’ve grafted their hearts out for each other and that’s what it’s all about.”
He acknowledged that when RCA pulled a goal back to make it 3-2 before half time, it was a crucial stage of the game. “There were definitely some nerves there; it was the horrible side of us where we give easy goals away. (Mark Davison) probably the best header in the league from an attacking perspective was a free man, we didn’t pick him up; we didn’t address it, which isn’t good enough. They were told that at half time and they’ve come out and reacted again and they kicked on again. Yes, we’ve always said it was coming and it has today.
“There are some big players not involved today for one reason or another. You look at that and they’re big players to miss but it does give someone else that opportunity. That team’s there, they’ve got the shirt and it’s up to them to keep it. It’s been a good week for us”
Looking ahead to Tuesday’s final League Cup group stage game at home to Birtley Town and with Whitley virtually assured of qualification for the knockout stages of the competition, he added “We’ll be playing a strong team, we want to get this winning habit.” He added that he also hoped to bring some younger players in if the situation allows, to give them some more experience.
