Haverfordwest County manager Tony Pennock felt yesterday’s game with Northern Irish champions Linfield was exactly what the team needed ahead of our upcoming UEFA Conference League adventure in just over a week’s time.
After a goalless first half at Windsor Park, the Blues showed their quality to find the net four times after the break, with the Town having performed admirably to keep them at bay for long periods.
This was the Bluebirds’ penultimate pre-season outing before we travel to Malta next week to face Floriana in the first qualifying round of the UEFA Conference League, with excitement now at fever pitch ahead of our second European campaign in three years.
Here’s what Tony had to say in full after the game:
On the performance
I thought the boys were fantastic first half. First and foremost, I thought it was a great test for us. It’s perfect timing leading into Europe in a week’s time. To play against a full-time team in Linfield, with the quality they’ve got, it was always going to be tough for us, but that’s the game we needed today. And first half we did really well. Then in the second half, we just probably got a bit tired, three goals in the last 10, 15 minutes made the scoreline look a lot worse than it was. But overall, nobody’s injured, they all got good game time, good minutes in their legs again, and I’m really pleased with especially the first half performance.
The big thing about today was everybody coming off the pitch unscathed. When you’re going into an important game like we are a week Tuesday, we need everybody available, and we’re a lot stronger than we were two years ago going into our European campaign. That doesn’t guarantee you anything, we know how hard it’s going to be against Floriana, but at least everybody’s fit and available and really looking forward to the test.
On the European draw
It’s fantastic to have the opportunity to go to Geneva and the UEFA headquarters. It’s something that I certainly would never take for granted. I enjoyed it two years ago and we enjoyed it even more this time. I think we were a bit nervous or apprehensive about things last time, but it’s given us more time to enjoy and celebrate the fact that we’ve got to Europe again.
The boys have been back three and a half weeks now, and it’s hard work from now to the end of the season for us to keep achieving what we want to achieve. Geneva was great. With the draw, you have to accept what you get, and we’ll be working hard to try and give Floriana the toughest test we can in a week’s time.
On making the most of the opportunity
The boys have worked extremely hard. We said before the game that some of the lads have played in three national stadiums in the last two years. That’s not by luck, it’s not by chance, it’s by hard work and applying themselves the way they have. It’s nice to enjoy it, and you look back on these days today and the other games we’ve had with great fondness, but we’ll look back and enjoy it even more if we perform to the level that we know we can. And that’s what we’re all striving to do at this moment in time.
