After a thrilling 4-3 victory over Walsall in the First Round of the Carabao Cup, Head Coach, Jon Dahl Tomasson spoke of his delight at getting into the hat for Round Two, but also reflected on the high-scoring, learning curve for his young players, with RoversTV.
“I’m delighted that we won the game. We, as a group, all desire to have a long cup run, like last season, whether that be in the League Cup or the FA Cup. We should not forget that Saturday, against West Bromwich Albion, was really tough and that meant I had to rest a lot of players. We saw five debuts, today, four brilliant goals and I think our fans enjoyed this seven-goal thriller!
“Personally, I was not satisfied with the first-half at all, but the second-half was much better as we did all of the right things. Yet, when you’re learning on the job, you can expect mistakes. That, however, does not take away from the amazing job that all the lads are doing, but you can see that they’re learning on the job. I’m delighted that we’re through to the next round, not just for the fans, but for the development of the team and the club.
“It was important that the boys came from behind to win the game; it was a great learning experience. Walsall were doing a great job in the first-half as they came from behind twice, but they made things very difficult, right until the end of the game, not just in the first-half. We scored two great goals in the first-half by doing the right things, which was great. Yet, when you’re young and inexperienced you never know what the game is going to look like when you fall behind. I’m pleased for the lads and they deserve great credit. I have heard that there have been a lot of Championship teams that have lost tonight, already. Everyone knows how much I love the cup competitions, so it’s great that we’re through!
“It was great to draw level, but I thought we could have scored more goals in the first-half if we had done the right things. If you do the right things, you create chances which we did in the second-half. The build-up for our first two goals was exactly what we wanted, but at the end of the day, when you score quickly, you make things easy for yourself.
“Zak (Gilsenan) scored an important goal. He’s a young boy, who wants to improve. This level is a big step up for him, I think he had cramp in both calves after 60 minutes! I probably let him play for a little bit too long, because you have to be harder and more robust and have to manage that pain. It was great to see Jake (Garrett) score his first for the club. Niall (Ennis) played a really good game, his link-up play was good, and he scored a great goal! At the end of the day, we’re through and we’re delighted with it, as will be the fans who saw their team emerge out of a seven-goal thriller on the right side.
“Zak will remember his first goal forever, but he will learn about his game the more he plays. He will learn that he has to do the right things more often. He did a lot of good things, tonight, but he knows exactly when he’s lacking in some situations, but that’s how you learn as every day is a great opportunity to learn something, but he had a great night. Niall did well tonight and showed glimpses of his quality. We all know that he’s coming from behind the rest of the group and he had a lot of issues coming in from Plymouth Argyle, but he’s still in pre-season and will be for a while, but I saw a lot of positives. Hopefully, he’s come through tonight without any issues, which I will find out tomorrow.
“The build-up for Niall’s goal showed our great connections within the team and the final-third, I do think that Niall could have scored two in the first-half, off the short corner which saw us create an excellent chance that their goalkeeper saved. There were also a couple of crosses where Niall probably got pushed in the back, but overall, I’m pleased for Niall.
“When you have such a horrible injury, like Sam Barnes did, a cruciate ligament is terrible. First of all, the player needs to come back and be confident that they can pick off where they left off, then they need game time to get back to his old level. I’m pleased that he got minutes into his legs. For me, Sam is still easing his way back into shape, because when you’ve been out for such a long time, you can’t immediately return to your old self, which we all know. Yet, it’s great to see him putting amazing effort in and I’m sure the victory will help!
“It’s been a great learning experience for the team tonight. On Saturday, I spoke how we had an average age of just under-24, today, I didn’t even do the maths because it would have been a lot lower! This, however, says a lot about the brilliant young players that we have, who want to develop, but we must also give the academy great credit for helping them get to this point.”
