As we prepare to host Cheltenham Town on Wearside tonight, Lee Johnson welcomes supporters into the Stadium of Light in his Red & White programme notes, sponsored by Signature Truck & Van.
Good evening everyone and welcome back to the Stadium of Light, as we take on Cheltenham Town under the lights on Wearside.
We return to the Stadium just three days after our last home game, in which we took a huge three points against a tough Bolton side. We knew how difficult the game was going to be, we made the players aware of that and that’s how it turned out. Both teams had chances, and I wouldn’t have said it was a 1-0 game – it could’ve been 4-3 on another day.
Whilst I was really pleased with the three points, we have to be better at killing teams off in the second half. There was one fantastic move for Pritch’s chance early in the half with some beautiful football, but we didn’t kill Bolton off and they showed a lot of quality. I would probably say they gave us the hardest game we’ve so far had.
The fans willed us on at the end to win, something the players and I are of course very appreciative of and we can’t wait to have pushing us forward throughout the season. Carl Winchester’s goal was an excellent example that young players can follow in terms of the move and the runs forward – culminating in a full-back to full-back goal. We always try and log these goals as examples for Academy players.
We’ve had to quickly recover and refocus ahead of tonight’s game, and Cheltenham will pose a threat to us. We have a lot of away games coming up in the next month, so it’s important when we have these home matches to capitalise. Cheltenham are a good side and a different challenge – we have to cope with that throughout the campaign, and hopefully we can see as many fans here tonight as was on Saturday.
Enjoy the game,
Lee Johnson
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