Manager Mark Warburton has given his thoughts following the two one victory over Dumbarton at the weekend and also previewed tomorrow’s clash with St Johnstone.
Video – Dumbarton Highlights
Speaking to the Official Site having seen a brace of goals come from Martyn Waghorn to win us another three points this season, Warburton explained that whilst we weren’t at our best again, he was pleased to see us still ensure the result.
‘This is a tough place to come, but we knew that and Dumbarton were very well organised and worked really hard. In the first half we were a little bit sloppy in the final third in terms of taking care and maintaining our shape. But we are working teams and they are working very, very hard to try and stop us, and I think that`s having an effect as we go beyond the hour mark in a game as we get more space and more time, and we can hurt teams.’
Warburton went on to say that he was delighted for ‘Waggy’ to get on the scoresheet again, but he felt overall we were good with the chances we created, given the woodwork saving them as well, so it’s all coming together even if recently we have been winning without playing as well as he knows we can.
‘We had to be patient, and the key thing was to keep moving the ball. We had to limit their touches and make them work, and by doing that hopefully as the game progresses and concentration is lost, we can punish them accordingly.’
More specifically on Waghorn who has now scored 11 in 11 this campaign, the gaffer added.
‘We said right at the very start that Martyn Waghorn had to play games, and he is doing that and he is getting better and better. He beats himself up when he misses chances, but he is creating them and working hard right, left and centre, and I`m delighted for him and he will get more goals this season.’
With St Johnstone up next in the League Cup in midweek action Warburton went on to say that for him it was just another game and it’s another game where we focus solely on ourselves.
‘It`s a different type of challenge, but as always, it is about us, and us taking care and doing what we do well, preparing well and we are looking forward to it. The fans took every ticket available today and we look forward to a big support on Tuesday night which will be important, and as ever, the players will have a responsibility to go out and send them home happy.’
In a second interview focusing more on St Johnstone, he went on to say that despite them being Premiership opposition, he wanted treating it any differently and he didn’t believe it would be a measure of where we are either.
‘The intrigue is the same before every game to see how we`ve prepared all week, to see how we`ve trained and to see what type of performance we deliver. There is no specific intrigue because it is a Premiership team. We will respect the fact that they are a Premier League team who are a consistent top-six performer with European experience and have won a Cup Final. So we`re always respectful, but right now we`re fit, we`re well, we`re mentally strong and we`re looking forward to the game. If I`m honest, the only extra excitement is there because of the media. Everyone is saying it`s a barometer, but it`s not, it`s the next game.’
Warbs went on to say that with the papers making it a ‘massive test’ for us he still didn’t feel it was much different because we’ve had tests against St Mirren, Hibs, Alloa and due to the surface, Queen of the South.
Even then with one stand Dumbarton will be a test as well.
‘So we`ve shown we can deal with the challenges, and there will be a number of challenges this year. Going to Dumbarton in January will be a test. I don`t mean that in a rude way, but it will be, so we need to deal with all of these challenges.’
With talk of form and not playing out best, he also went on to say that despite his own honesty in the search of improvements the camp is happy and he remains satisfied.
‘We`ve only scored five and conceded one. That`s not an arrogant way, but people said to me we were ‘shocking` when we won 3-0 against Livingston and we were ‘awful` when we won 2-1 away at Dumbarton. So if that`s how it`s perceived, then fantastic. Within the camp here, we are happy. We had an inquest because we know our standards, and there are maybe a few areas we fell short in. But that`s human nature. You`re not going to be 100% every day of the week – you can work hard every day of the week but sometimes things don`t work out for you and you can try and learn from them and correct them. If we drop our standards tomorrow then, as always, they will hurt us, so we need to make sure we`re ‘at it` and the run we`re on tells you we`re physically strong, we`re mentally strong in terms of being able to do it week after week, and hopefully we`ve shown tactically that we have good awareness.
So we are really looking forward to it and the squad is in great shape.’
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