The Manager gives his reaction to Tuesday’s draw against Oxford United.
After conceding an early goal through Jordan Bowery, a fine strike by Medy Elito earned the Exiles an important point in their quest to finally put safety in Sky Bet League Two beyond any lingering doubt.
After the game Manager Warren Feeney said, “I think it was important that we stopped the rot of recent results, and I thought we were very energetic and we applied ourselves well this evening.”
“I had a good feeling before the game and although Northampton were crowned champions, Oxford are right up there with them and I think that they are the best footballing side in the league.”
“Games like this against the top teams excites the players and it is against the other teams that we have to handle ourselves in the right way, but looking at tonight's performance and I am delighted and feel that we could have even won it in the end.”
He added, “Obviously I'm disappointed that we weren’t able to take all three points, but on the other hand I’m happy because we picked up a point against a very good side and that ends our run of bad results.”
County were undone by a long ball forward that the home side failed to clear properly and Oxford took full advantage , but Manager Warren Feeney was pleased with the reaction the players showed to going a goal down.
“It was a mistake by Joe for the goal, but he has held his hands up and then has produced one of the best saves I have seen this season and I thought from all the way from the back to the front, they all put in a shift for me tonight.
“It is a big point for us. It moves us off 41 points, which we have been stuck on for a while and I don’t like worrying about other teams, we just have to keep focused on yourselves and if we keep applying ourselves like that we will have no problems.”
Winger Medy Elito managed to bag his first goal for the Club with a well-worked finish from outside the area. The goal pleased the Manager, who believes Medy should have been on the scoresheet on more occasions this season.
“He was due a goal. Medy has hit the post, the crossbar at Northampton and I shouted at him at times on Saturday when I felt he should have shot. It was a great goal and a great reaction.”
“It was a fantastic finish and he does that in training all the time, but unfortunately until tonight we haven’t seen him score in a game.”
Before the game a point for County paired with a defeat for York would have meant that safety in the Football League would have been confirmed for the Exiles. The Minstermen managed to pull off a great result to beat Portsmouth, which means that County are now nine points clear off them, with nine points left to play for and a superior goal difference.
“I want to get over that line mathematically and York have managed to pull off a fantastic result against Portsmouth.”
“The aim when I came in back when John was here was to stay up at all cost and that is tough on the players and I have been in a similar position myself when I was down at Plymouth. I told the players that all we have to do is stay in this division and then we can build from there.”
“You want to get the right players in and what we might lack in quality we will make up for in togetherness and character. If you apply yourself right and work hard, you will go a long way in football.”