Haverfordwest County AFC manager Tony Pennock was pleased with the overall performance of his side in the goalless draw with Caernarfon Town on Saturday evening, as the Bluebirds added another point to their tally to remain second in the JD Cymru Premier.
County were on top for the majority of the contest, but the goal to earn three points proved elusive against a well organised Canaries side.
Another strong defensive display from the Town saw them keep a ninth clean sheet in 14 league outings to date, as we move on to 26 points with eight games remaining in Phase One.
Here’s what the manager had to say in full after the game:
On the result
I thought we played really well. There was everything bar the goal really. We created several good chances first half, Ben [Ahmun’s] effort goes just past the post and the one that we get down the side second half and it goes across the face of the goal again. Several set-pieces. Balls dropped and got blocked, so the boys boys are working hard. We know we’re not scoring the goals that we’d like, we’re not putting away the chances that we’ve created, but if we weren’t creating chances then I’d be more concerned. But it’s another clean sheet. I think they’ve had one opportunity that Jenks cleared that off the line, but apart from that they didn’t really have a threat against us. It’s always a tight game against Caernarfon because they’re a good side and they’re well coached.
On being the side on top
I think it shows how far the boys have come this year, how much they’ve matured, how much they’ve improved. I thought we moved the ball really quickly today. As good as we’ve done for a number of weeks. We’re eight games unbeaten, and today we played really well again. So it’s another point. Four points taken off Caernarfon, four points taken off Connah’s Quay. I said it before, if somebody offered us that at the start of the season, we’d take it. We’d definitely take that off both of those teams, so we look forward to a tough game against Flint next week because they beat us away and we know how tough that game’s going to be.
On our defensive resilience
We do look solid as a team defensively, against a team that wanted to play football, I thought it was a good game of football. Both teams got the ball down and passed it tonight. With [Zack] Clarke and [Louis] Lloyd up top, and then [Adam] Davies coming on, they’e got a real threat up front. Those two [Clarke and Lloyd] have scored 13 goals between them so far this season. They’re very good strikers, they have a lot of pace, and we always had to be at our best at the back because we knew the threat they had.
Defensively we’ve been consistent because boys have all stayed fit. Hopefully that continues and we can have some consistency in our back three, back five, and saying that, we’ve got people that were on the bench today, players like Iori Humphreys, we’ve got lots of options to play the back.
On our attacking output
When you’ve kept nine clean sheets in 14 games, there’s not much wrong with that. So, if it’s not broken, there’s no need to fix it. At the other end of the pitch, again, we’re creating chances. It’s not down to one or two missing chances. Everybody scores goals. And when that clicks, we’re sitting here saying when that clicks, we’re second in the table, so it’s credit to the lads as a group. It’s enjoyable coming in to work every day with the boys.
On the next challenge
We’ve got eight games left in Phase One. We know the target we set ourselves at the start of the season. Normally, if you get 33 points, you’re there or thereabouts for top six. We’ve got 26 points with eight games to go, and it’s just all about accumulating as many points as possible to carry on for the season, not just finishing top six. So it’s one game at a time at the moment, and we look forward to a tough game against Flint on Saturday.
