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00:00Tommy, what a dramatic afternoon. 2-1 win against Woking to get to the FA Trophy final and what a way to do. What scenes here today?
00:08Yeah, I mean, listen, these days are great, but they're only great if you win. And obviously we had the home advantage, which we thought would be, you know, partisan crowd and what have you.
00:16But they brought a good following and they stuck by the team. They had something to hold on to.
00:20But I just felt once we came to grips with the way they played in the first half, I thought we grew into the game again and started taking control.
00:29Of course, sending off, I didn't really see it. There's obviously a coming together, whether he's done it intentionally or what, I don't know.
00:35But obviously that has a big bearing in the game, but they go and score straight after that.
00:39So I've got to give my lads credit. There was a few lads I thought that were carrying a bit that went through pain barriers for us.
00:45And that's needed. I said them before the game, you can either be sore in the morning or you can be sorry in the morning.
00:50And thankfully, they're only going to be sore.
00:52Yeah, they kept going, didn't they? I mean, you have so much pressure there and you kept plugging away and the goal obviously comes in stoppage time.
00:59Yeah, I mean, listen, my lads, and it's not through me only, it's my backroom staff, my lads are fit, they're fast and they're strong.
01:06And it can go all the way to the end. You don't win the game in the first 20 minutes.
01:09And we have a saying here that we won't lose the game in the first half. We can always keep going.
01:14And they do that. And in fairness, what they lack in possible ability or, you know, they've got in spades a bit of desire.
01:21They represent this football club and this town as well as I can ask them to do.
01:26Like I said, some might lack a little bit of ability or technical ability at times, but then some have got abundances of that.
01:32And they're the ones who came to the fore at the end of the game to make the goals and win the game.
01:37What do you say at half-time, Neil Neil obviously had the penalty save from Sadio Frost.
01:42Well, we certainly didn't mention that. I mean, I think he's got big cojones to take the penalty in the first place.
01:47I've got no problem with him. It was a good save as well. So, you know, the lad, you've got to give their goalie.
01:51I think he saved two or three in there in the shootout in the last round.
01:54So we knew if it went to that was going to be a difficult task. So fair play.
01:58He stepped up. But it's one of them games. He scored his last one. He didn't score this one.
02:03That's what penalty takers do, unfortunately. But I just felt I knew we were building pressure and building pressure.
02:09When we got the first one, I did actually genuinely feel that we were going to go on to win the game.
02:14With all due respect to Woking and the conditions today, they wouldn't have had to play a lot of great football to score.
02:20So they can score at any time. We probably have to make more passes to create an opportunity.
02:25But I thought we kept going on a difficult surface, backed by a fantastic, fantastic crowd.
02:31I mean, I've had fellas 60, 70, 80-year-old come up to me crying. They got me emotional.
02:36I don't cry very often, to be honest. But I can see what it means.
02:40I knew what it meant, but I didn't want to build the game up to put undue pressure on the players.
02:44But I'm absolutely delighted to have delivered what we set out.
02:48When we started here against Wheelston in the first round that we entered the competition,
02:53we mentioned to the lads that this is a competition we feel we could win.
02:57And I'm pleased we were one step closer.
03:00Yeah, and your players really did keep going and kept playing your football.
03:03And obviously, you got the reward you fully deserved, really, didn't you?
03:06Yeah, I think over the whole, whatever it was, 115 minutes, we probably did deserve to win the game.
03:11We created more chances, their goalie made more saves, we had more entries into their box, that sort of thing.
03:15But we had, listen, them young fellas at the back for me, 19, 20 and 21-year-old kids,
03:21they've handled a top-level striker at this level.
03:25His physicality, his ability, he's scored goals forever at this level.
03:30So they've done really well to keep their shackles on him.
03:33And the lads around them and in front of them have run themselves into the ground.
03:37The strikers have shown enough quality to score two goals.
03:40Listen, I'm off to get my suit measured.
03:43And obviously, Effie Ong, as you say, he's a threat at this level and he managed him really well.
03:47And James Henry off the bench, great penalty there for you.
03:51Well, I didn't even watch it. I was talking to the ball boy because at the end of the day,
03:55I've not been in the best of health this year.
03:58And my ticker was going a little bit, I could feel it racing.
04:00So I just took a moment for myself and asked the young lad to tell me if and when he scored.
04:05Of course, I heard that he'd scored.
04:07But yeah, that was a calming moment for the lads on the pitch, I think.
04:10And like I said, they showed the gumption, the ability and the wherewithal to go and take the game away from Woking.
04:16And listen, I've got to mention Neil and Simon and John, the goalie coach.
04:20They're a class act as a staff, a class act.
04:23And I really appreciate what they said to me before the game about myself
04:27and the way that they embraced us.
04:30It's hard when you've lost that game.
04:32I know what it means to both the Woking and the Old Trafford fans.
04:35But them boys are class acts.
04:37And Jack Barham obviously gets his moment at his toughest time there, heading home.
04:41Yeah, well, Jack's been on the journey all the way through with me.
04:44I inherited him, but he's somebody that I love working with.
04:47He's an infectious lad.
04:50You know what he's like? He's like a little dynamo.
04:52One of them nights you wind up and let go and he just keeps going.
04:55And he keeps going in the right places and going in the right places.
04:57He's not a big lad, but from the rise he did at the far post and score there,
05:01he's etched himself in history.
05:04We all have.
05:05And listen, as a manager, you want to make people feel good.
05:10They'll forget what I say.
05:11They'll forget about this interview.
05:12They'll forget about what I've done, when I've reacted to something.
05:15But they'll never forget how they feel.
05:17And we've made them feel special.