After knocking in his 2nd goal of the season after coming off the bench to secure the 3 points for Rovers in their 2-0 win over Bradford City, Craig Conway spoke to the clubs’ media and discussed the game, his emotions and the run in, towards the end of the season.
“I enjoyed scoring that as it was my first, then second touch of the ball as I stroked it into the back of the net to secure the victory, but it’s been a long time since I’ve been in such a position, but I thoroughly enjoyed it tonight. Tonight’s win was massive, as I think, going into the game on a Thursday night, we had a few things go against us, such as the absences of Danny Graham and Charlie Mulgrew and the injury to Darragh Lenihan, but we managed to bypass those obstacles and claim the vital win. I thought we had to win tonight in order to keep the pressure up on the teams around us, I thought we were really good tonight and we produced an all-round good performance, which included a clean sheet.
“This game was really pleasing because it was a great squad effort. Like I said, a lot of things went against us before kick-off, but we stuck together and got a much-needed result. We’ve said so many times that, if we keep a clean sheet, we can rely on the power and ability that we have going forwards to grab us the goals we need to win games. We’ve got players who can produce moments of magic out of nothing and I felt that after an hour of play, the game was becoming tighter and tighter and then the game started to free up and all of a sudden, Corry (Evans) played a great ball through into (Bradley) Dack, who provided us with a great finish, like he has done so many times for us. There are a lot of important players in this side, but Bradley Dack’s right up there. He’s grabbed his 16th goal of the season tonight, and I think his all-round game has improved as the season has gone on and I haven’t seen many better at using his body and driving at people with the ball.
“With the lads defending brilliantly, I think as soon as my shot hits the back of the net, then that’s game over. I have to give a special mention for Paul Downing who came on after 30 minutes and did brilliantly well at the back, as it’s not easy to come in and fill in such a vital position at the back. There was a lot of frustration and emotion released in my celebration as I’ve had a tough season, especially with the niggles and injuries that I’ve had, which I haven’t encountered before in my career, but I was delighted to get onto the pitch and score a goal.”
The Scot also described the final 8 games of the season as ‘cup finals’, when asked regarding the games which remained on the board for the Blues.
“I know it’s probably an overused cliché, but our next 8 games really are our ‘cup finals’ and I think, if we keep performing like we did today, then we’ll be up there, come the end of the season.”
