Skipper Adam Murray had praise for his team-mates in the wake of today’s stalemate with local rivals Chesterfield at One Call Stadium.
Our team created some good opportunities against the promotion-chasing Spireites and were resolute defensively to earn a hard-fought point, which keeps us in 18th position in Sky Bet League Two.
“I think it was always going to be a tight affair,” said Murray, who was speaking shortly after the full-time whistle. “We went for a little bit of a difference in shape in our midfield and we tried to be solid in the first half.
“We tweaked it a little bit [in the second half] and when we did that I think we were on top of the game.”
He continued: “These are massive games and when you go up into the hospitality suite to do interviews, you realise just how much it means to people.
“Even though we haven’t come away with three points, we’ve got one and put in a good performance and I think that dictates people’s weekends, and that’s the pleasing thing.”
The 32-year-old was named as the sponsor’s ‘Man of the Match’ for his sterling performance in the heart of midfield, but says our front two deserved the award.
“The front boys deserved the ‘Man of the Match’ award more than I did, because I thought they were a different class,” added Murray.
“On another day, Ollie (Palmer) could have had a couple [of goals], and ‘Rheady’ (Matt Rhead) beat the two centre-halves, so it was a good team performance today.”
Looking ahead, the skipper said: “We’ve got eight more games to stay in the Football League and then we address things in the summer.
“There’s no point in dwelling on things as we’ve got to keep going and we’ve got another tough game on Tuesday, which is our focus right now.”
Murray also had praise for our defensive display, and in particular Ryan Tafazolli, who was dominant in the air for most of the match after a shaky start.
The defender produced a magnificent goal-line clearance after his backwards header was latched onto by Marc Richards in just the third-minute, which kept us on level terms.
“The boys at the back were a different class,” added Murray.
“As a young lad Ryan (Tafazolli) always has that little bit in his mind and as a young lad he’s working on things, but since he’s come into the team, he’s been superb.”
