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Archived News from April 2005

PALMER AND JOHNSON REACTION
9th April 2005 22:32


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Audio interview with Carlton Palmer from BBC Radio Nottingham (RealPlayer needed)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/nottingham/realmedia/football/2005/stags_yeovil_away_palmer.ram

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CHAD website:
Harsh lesson for Palmer's youngsters

CARLTON Palmer felt this afternoon's 5-2 defeat at table-topping Yeovil Town was another important part of his young side's learning curve.
"Over the last two seasons Yeovil have set the standards in this league and my youngsters now know what they need to do.
"Yeovil are up there at the top because they deserve to be and that's where we want to be next year.
"I certainly don't think it was a 5-2 game but Yeovil were the better side throughout and I was a bit disappointed with some of my side. We just weren't good enough today.
"I am certainly disappointed we conceded two goals from set pieces as that is something we work very hard on in the week
"I though Alex John-Baptiste was excellent, Adam Rundle played well and Gareth Jelleyman did all right. After that you would struggle to say who else did well which is disappointing.
"But we had more injuries with Alex Neil hurting his knee in training and Jake Buxton's hip keeping him out again.
"So we had a very young side out there and there were lessons I hope they have learned. They have just come up against the better team and didn't have the answers.
"A couple of decision went against us and I didn't think Alex fouled their lad for the free kick for their third goal.
"I am certainly disappointed we conceded two goals from set pieces as that is something we work very hard on in the week."
Palmer confirmed he has completed the signing of Giles Coke and hopes to do the same with fellow teenager Adam Rundle this week.
"I am delighted to get Cokey signed on and we are not a million miles away with Adam," he said.
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ciderspace.co.uk:
Gary's verdict on the Mansfield game
Glovers boss Gary Johnson made the following comments to the press after today's 5-2 win over Mansfield at Huish Park

Gary not too many asking for their money back today I suspect. How important was that win?

"Well I said to you earlier that the next 3 points are going to be massive and there's a way of putting it across to the boys - they more or less know which games are big games or not. I tried not to put them under pressure and we tried to relax and play our game. We started off very well, got the early goal that we wanted and needed. Unfortunately they got their goal pretty soon after, after Steve Collis had made a pretty good save for the penalty so that's picked us all up again.

"But there's going to be up's and down's and I did say to you all, check your notes, that there's going to be drama's and there will be and still might be; but what we've got to do is hang on in there and everyone's got to keep believing and keep believing in what we've done so far. You look at the table today and it's got a different complexion to that of yesterday so we just have to keep going, we have to help certain players get through it because they got us to where we are now and we have got to have that total belief in the people around and in the football club."

It seemed to be a lot about character today, your team responding from going a goal down and once your team got in front for the second time it seemed to break them a little bit?

"Well it did, because at that point you could see all the confidence flooding back. We were playing our passing game and opening them up for fun at certain points and it's a long time since there's been a game I wanted to go on and on and I felt we could have got more goals. But I'm proud of the boys today because we've come through a sticky patch. We're not there yet because there is still a long way to go and we won't be resting on our laurels, but that was one of the biggest 3 points of the season."

Some milestones as well today I guess in Michael Rose getting his first goal and a good all round performance with it, Phil Jevons has got his first in open play for a couple of months and Darren Way's got a brace today, lots for you to be positive about?

"There's loads of positives, as you said I think the biggest positive is the character that came through in the end - to get a penalty we were a bit disappointed with given against us and to go 2-1 down pretty soon after half-time then you have got to have a particular spirit and character to come back and score 4 more goals. We did that and to the lads' credit we did that with a bit of quality."

Do you know what the (2nd) penalty was given for?

"I asked the linesman and he said that the attacker got pulled down just after Steve's block. I didn't see that and I didn't see a handball either, but it wasn't handball he said it was a tug. As it turned out it was good for them to get that goal because it upset us and brought us out of our shells, but I wish I'd have known that was going to happen at the time!"

Kevin Gall went off with a with a standing ovation - he supplied a couple of those second half goals, when he sprinted 20 yards across the field to nick the ball before crossing.

"If Kev's on form he's very difficult to pick up, we had a few boys that put in an above average effort today and they needed to to get this result and Kevin Gall was one of them, he was dangerous all day. You can chase him for 60 runs but if he makes 100 runs you might struggle for the next 40 and I thought that was how Gally played today. He ran them into the ground and so did Arron Davies and so did Phil Jevons.

"We tried a new system a little bit, we felt we needed to put Paul Terry in a little bit of a deeper position to pick up all of the little bits. That worked for us and the three up front worked for us as well and all three of them were a credit to the club."

A brilliant first goal, the run, Arron Davies just kept finding another gear didn't he?

"Exactly, if you have to chase Jevvo, Arron and Gally, especially with the pace of Arron and Gally and you know that Jevvo's going to be in the dangerous areas, that was the idea about having those three up front. We took a bit of a chance with no big man up there, but we'd already made the decision when Marcus Richardson got a slight pull on Friday afternoon that that was going to be the team, and we've come through it. You can only make decisions as a manager that you stand and fall by and we're top of the league so we're making more good decisions than bad."

Another 4 days off then this week is that the plan?

"Well, that was what the players wanted, that was the first shout! They were all wondering who was going to mention it but no, we've been there, done that, we will probably give them a little bit off - so rather than coming in at 11am on Monday they can be in at 2pm on Monday, another 3 hours off!"

Transcription by Richard Gibson

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