Haverfordwest County AFC manager Tony Pennock felt the draw with Connah’s Quay Nomads was probably a fair result, as the Bluebirds extended their unbeaten run in the JD Cymru Premier to five matches.
County had more opportunities to score what could well have been the decisive goal, but it wasn’t to be as we settled for a point which maintains our place in second.
The clean sheet was our eighth in 12 league matches to date, as the Town continue to look solid right the way throughout the team.
Here’s what the manager had to say in full after the game:
On the result and performance
I don’t think it was a great game. I thought the conditions were tough for both teams. The wind didn’t help situations. But overall, it’s another clean sheet against a very tough team. Connah’s Quay have got a lot of experience in their side. I thought on chances we probably just edged it, but they hit the post first half, you’ve got to give them credit when they had opportunities, and they’ve had a couple of ones from set-pieces as well, which they’re always a threat on. So yes, always disappointed when you drop points at home, but we have to be honest and say neither team was great today and a point was probably a fair reflection of the match on the whole.
We had a few opportunities from set-pieces ourselves, the keeper’s made a good save from Dylan. A couple of other parts of phases of play where we created chances, but without testing the keeper again. We got in good positions and maybe didn’t quite get the final ball into somebody’s feet at the right time.
We’re on 22 points after 12 games. We talked about that at the start of the season. We definitely wanted to be where we are now, and like I said, there are lots of positives from the game. Maybe it’s a game we would have lost last season or the season before. We’ve definitely lost games like that in the past. Like I said, it’s a clean sheet and we move on to a tough game on Tuesday night.
On the perspective
If you’d offered me four points against Connah’s Quay in Phase One this season, I would have snapped your hands off. The lads have battled hard. It’s a tough game. Connah’s Quay have got a lot of good players in their squad. Yes, they aren’t in the position that they normally find themselves, but I’m sure now they’re getting a bit more consistency to their play and they’re picking up points. A point against Connah’s Quay is always a hard-fought point, and you have to take it.
On our strong defensive displays
Again, it’s something we talked about over the last two years, being better and not conceding silly goals. We’ve done that again today. As I said, in games gone by over the last two seasons, we would have conceded today, but we didn’t. Everybody is defending as a group. That’s from Zac to the centre forwards working hard for the rest of the boys behind them, and when the subs come on they are doing their job as well as anybody else, as we ask them to. So eight clean sheets in 12 games is a fantastic record. It’s an obvious statement, you keep clean sheets, you’ve got a chance of winning games, and that’s what we’re doing at the moment. Yes, we’re not quite hitting the mark in the final third of the pitch, and that’s not down to strikers, that’s down to everybody. But we’ve had a few chances today, haven’t taken them, but so have Connah’s Quay, so it’s 0-0, it’s another point to our total and we’re still in second place, which is fantastic.
On the next challenge
The games are coming thick and fast this month. Briton Ferry away on Tuesday, it’s going to be a tough game. They’re a team that are used to winning lots of games, especially at home. It’s a tough place to go. It’s a smaller pitch than what we’re used to, but it’s a good pitch, and we have to be right on our mettle if we’re going to get anything from that game. We know that, and the league table means nothing really. It’s about the next game and we have to be really at our best to get something on Tuesday night.
On the competition for places
Obviously a couple of players have to be left out of the squad, Luke Tabone is away on international duty, and our bench is still as strong as it’s been all season, which is pleasing for me. It gives me a problem, but it’s a problem that I want. The boys who are training and not starting at the minute are training really well. I’ve spoken to a couple of them today. I know they want to play, everybody wants to play, but when the team is doing as well as it is, it’s hard to make too many changes, but the important thing is boys know that the ones who start are playing games and not saving anything because we’ve got a strong bench that can come on at any time and make us as strong as we started the game. People will get opportunities and when they get them, they have to take them, and long may that continue and hopefully the squad stays as healthy as it is now and we keep fighting together as a group.
