Here’s what we learnt from Neilson’s press conference...
Unbeaten run
“I’ve been pleased but we should have taken more points. It’s good to be where we are now but looking back, we should have picked up more points and that’s disappointing. We’ve definitely progressed, though, and hopefully we can get to that stage we are picking up points on a consistent basis.”
Kieran Agard’s performances
“He’s been doing really well recently. He’s on 14 goals now which is great and I think he’s still got a few more goals left in him before the end of the season. Every time he plays I expect him to score. He’s a striker so his main job is to put the ball in the back of the net but he also does a lot of stuff on the other side for us all. I’ve been pleased with his contribution.”
Lee Nicholls’ inclusion in the starting XI
“For me it’s about performing, so if a player gets an opportunity and grasps it, like I think Lee has, then my duty is to give them an opportunity – if a player does well, they’ll stay in the team. That creates a competitiveness. I think Lee showed me over the course of the season that he’s really hungry. When he came in, I think it was clear the work he’s done in training with Healdy (Paul Heald) and Dave (David Martin) in training.”
Development team
“We don’t have a reserve team here at the moment so the players don’t get a lot of game time. Having a development side is something we’ll look at and discuss in the summer. These guys need game time because if I need them to play, they are ready. At the moment, some of them haven’t played for three or four months and it’s not fair on them.”
“I’ve been pleased but we should have taken more points. It’s good to be where we are now but looking back, we should have picked up more points and that’s disappointing. We’ve definitely progressed, though, and hopefully we can get to that stage we are picking up points on a consistent basis.”
Kieran Agard’s performances
“He’s been doing really well recently. He’s on 14 goals now which is great and I think he’s still got a few more goals left in him before the end of the season. Every time he plays I expect him to score. He’s a striker so his main job is to put the ball in the back of the net but he also does a lot of stuff on the other side for us all. I’ve been pleased with his contribution.”
Lee Nicholls’ inclusion in the starting XI
“For me it’s about performing, so if a player gets an opportunity and grasps it, like I think Lee has, then my duty is to give them an opportunity – if a player does well, they’ll stay in the team. That creates a competitiveness. I think Lee showed me over the course of the season that he’s really hungry. When he came in, I think it was clear the work he’s done in training with Healdy (Paul Heald) and Dave (David Martin) in training.”
Development team
“We don’t have a reserve team here at the moment so the players don’t get a lot of game time. Having a development side is something we’ll look at and discuss in the summer. These guys need game time because if I need them to play, they are ready. At the moment, some of them haven’t played for three or four months and it’s not fair on them.”
“I'm not keen on going into games with the sole-focus to experiment – we want to win and I'll pick a team that I think will win the game. If it means putting in one or two younger boys in then fair enough but they have to be at the level. People pay their money to watch us so it's important we put a team out that will win.”
Experimenting with team selection
“We’re speaking to the players. We’ll be speaking to a few of them (on Wednesday) but we’ll be keeping things in-house. I’ve made my mind up on most but I’m still undecided on a couple of the younger ones. They’ll get an opportunity in the next few games and have a chance to show what they can do before we make a decision on them.”
Contract talks
“We have a good squad here but the issue was we didn’t have huge depth. We had a period where we had everyone fit but had five or six boys on nine bookings, who all then had spells out – we lost that core of the team and that made it quite difficult for four or five weeks. We dropped quite a few points and that really hit us. Next season, it’s important we have a strong squad but we also need to get on top of the discipline so we’re not getting so many suspensions – it’s something we’ll deal with in pre-season.”
Missing out on promotion
Experimenting with team selection
“We’re speaking to the players. We’ll be speaking to a few of them (on Wednesday) but we’ll be keeping things in-house. I’ve made my mind up on most but I’m still undecided on a couple of the younger ones. They’ll get an opportunity in the next few games and have a chance to show what they can do before we make a decision on them.”
Contract talks
“We have a good squad here but the issue was we didn’t have huge depth. We had a period where we had everyone fit but had five or six boys on nine bookings, who all then had spells out – we lost that core of the team and that made it quite difficult for four or five weeks. We dropped quite a few points and that really hit us. Next season, it’s important we have a strong squad but we also need to get on top of the discipline so we’re not getting so many suspensions – it’s something we’ll deal with in pre-season.”
Missing out on promotion
