Post Alton with Elliott Hunt and Joe Wotton

We spoke with Elliott Hunt and Joe Wotton after last nights 3-3 draw against Alton at the Mustard Seed Stadium!

So we’re here after the three all draw with Alton. Elliott, what are your thoughts on tonight’s game and the resilience the team showed at the game against Balham last week?

Yeah, I think it was two very similar games. I think the quality of our play was brilliant in possession and I think the boys recognised that. I think we were moving the ball well and we were looking after it. We were causing Alton lots of problems today and were finding plenty of pockets, which meant that we were able to penetrate their defence. A big thing for us, at the moment is consistency, I think sometimes a couple of players just have a moment of switching off and that’s when we then cause ourselves our own mistakes against these teams at the top end of the table, they punish you. But again, I’ll go back to it, the character is fantastic which is why we got ourselves back into it today and we were unlucky not to have come away with more.

So, Joe, over to you. We went down really early on, do you think it showed good spirit from the boys to come back? Just four minutes on the clock, when we went one nil down.

Yeah, for the first goal, I think we knew it was just an obvious error. We started actually really well. We knew if we carried on playing our game, we would get back in the match and it felt a little bit like a game of two halves.

Elliott, we had patches in the first half, where we looked very strong, but then we backed off a little bit, it felt that they were coming through us a bit too easy at points. What were your thoughts about the shape?

Alton did alternate their shape. I think they recognised that we were picking them apart quite a lot. They then tried to move to two up front and we know that they’re quite a direct side anyway. I think that Nunes (Josh) dealt with them very very well. But again, for me, I think I’d say 90% of the game I think we were brilliant. We defended superbly, we looked after the ball well and we were very good on the transition. But for us right now, it’s just moments in matches. If we can sort the moments out, then we’re going to be a lot more successful in the upcoming fixtures.

It was great to see the boys come back and find that equaliser. Joe, towards the end, it was a bit frantic, should we say? I think it was a little knee slide from you at the end of the game. Not sure you landed it completely well!

What Pes (Liam Pestle) said at half time was that, that’s some of the best football we’ve played all season, so we just knew that second half we had to try and carry it out once again. I think maybe a bit harsh to walk away from draw as I thought we were the better team.

Just on a personal note for you Joe, in your pre match write up, obviously going back against one of your former clubs. How did that feel going out against some of the boys that you know quite well?

Yeah, I do know some of them well, so I don’t know, maybe there’s extra motivation for me to go out and play well today and I thought that it was a very good game of football.

So, Elliot, we’ve got a pretty grueling schedule coming up. A lot of games, a lot of big games. How are you getting the boys ready?

The boys as a collective look after themselves extremely well anyway and the club obviously have got that fantastic relationship with Hart Leisure Centre, which means the boys get access to the gym and all the facilities that they provide. Obviously, Teagan the medic will be working hard to help them recover and stretch off as well. We’ll have a recovery training session on Thursday to make sure that we’re all in good shape for Saturday. But also as a squad, we’ve got a lot of depth there. We’ve had two debuts today in Leo Downing, who was absolutely brilliant when he came off the bench. As well as Prince Cruz, who you’ll see more of him now, he’s come in from Basingstoke Town. Another very young, talented player and again, I’ve got depth on the bench which is fantastic. Mihail came on and made a big difference today and I’ve still got TJ sat there, a young exciting Fleet Town Youth prospect. Naz is also still kicking at the door to get his chance again, so we’ve got a strong team overall, meaning there’ll be a few rotations where needed because you’ve got to look after and rest players. But each player brings the same level as everyone who started today, so we’ll be good.

I suppose one for you Elliot, probably wouldn’t be fair to ask Joe, who’s your player of the match this evening?

For me, it was Fareed. I think he absolutely worked himself into the ground today. He’s a lad who gets kicked to death every game and the big thing that we’ve worked on with Fareed is what he did at Balham for 90 minutes, playing exactly the same performance today. He’s only come off with seven minutes to go because he’s pulled up with cramp as he’s completely ran himself into the ground, and that’s what I asked of from the boys. But Fareed today just worked in so many different pockets and worked really hard off the ball.

Joe, final one for you. Over two hundred in again on a Tuesday night and just under five hundred in against Croydon. How’s that been playing in front of these fans and brilliant attendances for step five football?

Yeah, it’s been really good. I think that’s a strong attendance, especially for a midweek game. It does help and I think that showed tonight, getting the equaliser right at the end of the match!