Johnson Couldn’t Be Prouder Of Strikers

Manager Gary Johnson hasn’t had cause too often this season to praise our frontline and following the four nil victory over Leyton Orient in the FA Cup earlier today, he was certainly not going to let the opportunity pass.

Speaking to the press following the victory that saw a brace from James Hayter doubled by a goal a piece from Joel Grant and Kieffer Moore, the gaffer was utterly thrilled with the level of finishing on display in the game and picked out Hayter especially for praise.

‘He looked dangerous and sharp. What we asked for at halftime was a couple of good balls into the box and it was a good ball from Liam Davis, who I thought played very well today, and a good finish from Joel Grant and then Kevin Dawson hit a great cross which Hayter got on the end of. I did not want to take him off especially when you’re on a hat trick but I wanted to give Kieffer Moore a confidence boost and Adam Morgan.’

Johnson goes on to say that he was then delighted to see Moore take that opportunity by scoring near the end of the game, and of course Morgan himself had a chance to get a goal as well, so he was pleased with the substitute decisions he made and he was pleased to see both youngsters embrace the opportunity again.

For Moore especially, Johnson adds that fans need to give him time because he does have a lot of development to do, but he feels he’s a fine specimen with bags of natural ability, so it’s just about bringing that out in him and helping to bring him on.

He also says that the goalies tell him in training that Moore with both feet, has one of the hardest strikes at the club, so it’s about nurturing that so he makes good decisions on the pitch to really make that talent count in games.

Speaking to the BBC at the final whistle, Johnson was also very quick to praise the staff at the club for enabling the match to go ahead given so many others were cancelled today.

‘The work put in before the game was magnificent and above the call of duty – from stewards and ground staff, everybody. So credit to everybody for getting the game on and we didn’t want to let them down, and I don’t feel the boys did.’

Amen to that, and having now had a comprehensive win again, hopefully that can leak into our league form with the confidence boost it would’ve no doubt given the players.