After last Tuesday’s draw at home to King’s Lynn Town, Aldershot Town will look to return to winning ways back at home against against Wealdstone FC on Saturday.
Hear what First-Team Coach Michael Koopowitz had to say in full:
Q: Well Mike, back at home on Saturday, what’s your thoughts ahead of the game?
“We’re coming off the back of two poor results, two poor performances which are very unlike ourselves, especially considering the run we had previously. The focus is just getting back to how we started, we looked at how we performed against Notts County, Dagenham and Weymouth and we found a really good formula and system.
“It’s just now about getting back to that because I think we’ve come away from that in the last couple of games”
Q: Of course, we’ve come off the back of a one all draw against King’s Lynn last time out, a few people will be disappointed that we didn’t go on to win the game and maybe put in a performance we know we’re capable of, what do we do to make sure that we’ve learnt from that game and bring it into Saturday’s game?
“I think with the King’s Lynn performance, it was an isolated game in the sense that we weren’t very much like ourselves, baring the first five minutes, we struggled to get a grip on how they played, and the boys looked quite out of position. We had to correct a few things at half-time and we just struggled to get to grips with them.
“Our pressing structure wasn’t right, the team out of possession just didn’t get to grips with it so from our point of view it’s just about getting back to how we were, like against Notts County, Dagenham and the Weymouth games because that really built a strong foundation.
“We worked on that today in training and we’ll work on it again tomorrow and hopefully put in a good performance on the weekend.”
Q: A positive from the game was obviously Ricky Miller getting back on the scoresheet, it’s good to see him score his first goal here at home and hopefully he can continue that on Saturday.
“Yeah, obviously I’m delighted for him, it was a great finish and as you say, hopefully he gets more opportunities and puts them in the back of the net.”
Q: And just a quick note about the injuries, what’s the latest on the players returning? Is there any news or still as it was last week?
“Still as it was last week. Alfy is back on the pitch running so he’ll be a couple of weeks away so it’s the same as usual.”
Q: We’re getting to the business end of the season where teams can go up or down with the play-offs, we’ve already said that we’re not looking at the play-offs but maybe this is a chance for players who are looking for a contract next season to get their chance and earn one for next season.
“Yes of course, I think this season has been quite strange, there’s been so many twists and turns that whenever the word play-offs is mentioned, it distracts us from what we’ve been really good at and we don’t want to focus too much on those targets.
“Our focus for the next few games is to build on what we’ve put together, our team shape in possession and out of possession, a lot of the good things that we can hopefully use the remaining games as a pre-season for next year so it’s a great opportunity for the boys to come in and show us what they can do.
“We will obviously chop and change and make a few changes just to see how other players faire in the system that we’ve created over the last couple of weeks.”
Q: Looking back at the Wealdstone game, we beat them are their place in a 4-3 thriller, we’ll be hoping for the same amount of goals but also be a bit more sturdy defensively this time around as well.
“Of course, look, they’ve come off the back of two really disappointing results but the national league can be a difficult place and we won’t take the game for granted, we’re looking to get the three points and obviously put in a good performance and also hopefully produce a lot of goals in the game for us.”
Q: Exactly that, they come off the back of two really disappointing defeats for them, as do we with a draw (King’s Lynn) we should have won and a defeat against Barnet, both teams will be up for it and will be hoping for a good result against the other.
“Certainly, like I’ve said previously, the game is a platform for us to build on the good things that we’ve done in recent games, so we’ll look to do that.”
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