GRIMSBY Town joint boss Rob Scott gives his thoughts ahead of tonight's crucial play-off semi-final first leg against Newport…ON THE GAME…
For us, Saturday's game against them never really had any relevance. It was just another game to us. Newport put out what they called a weakened team and that's up to them.
It will be a tighter affair tonight, but the win on Saturday gave our players a real boost of confidence. It wasn't just the win but it was how we went about getting it – it was a nice, fluid performance and it has given us another shot in the arm.
But it will be a very different game but a tough one nonetheless.
There will be a lot of fresh bodies coming back into both sides and so we'll have to wait and see how it pans out. But in the play-offs, everything else goes out the window, it's all about which team deals with the occasion on the night.
We know we've got the best defensive record in the league but we also know we can score goals as well – hopefully that will stand us in good stead tonight.ON NEWPORT…
We know what Newport are about and we know what we need to do. It won't be easy because they are good going forward and they've scored a fair few goals this season.
They are a team on the up. Who would have thought two or three years ago that Newport would be pushing for a place in the league against an ex-League club, albeit a few years ago?
They'll be looking to ride on the back of the recent success enjoyed by other Welsh teams, but we want our own success at this club.
For too long, it's been in the doldrums and hopefully, we're bringing a bit of success back here, although we haven't done it yet.ON LIAM HEARN…
If Liam does start tonight, we hope he gives us the sort of performances that he has been doing.
He's now ready to start, whereas a couple of weeks ago, he wasn't. Everyone was clamouring for him to start but that would have put him backwards.
So we've been patient with him and it's paying off. We always said anything we got out of him this season would have been a bonus. It was a nice relief for him on Saturday to get a game and get a goal.
It gives him that confidence that he can get back to where he was last season.ON THE HOME CROWD…
Newport will bring a vociferous bunch and our fans will need to match that.
Without doubt, there will be passes that go astray and there will be mistakes that happen because of the magnitude of the game. These lads are human beings and they are playing Conference football, they will make mistakes and we need people to stick with them and get behind them.
When you do that, you saw on Saturday what a positive response you get from them. It was fantastic on Saturday and if we can get that in again tonight, the players will genuinely get carried along by that.
If the crowd can give the players that extra five, ten 15 or 20 per cent, that could make the difference. We don't want Newport coming to our place and stifling our crowd.
We need the fans to get behind the players and see the effect that they can have on the players.
It's not waffle, it's fact. Tonight, we need to use everything we've got to our advantage and our fans can be a big part of that.
Mariners goalkeeper James McKeown was online yesterday chatting to fans ahead of the play-offs. You can replay the discussion here
Mariners goalkeeper James McKeown was online yesterday chatting to fans ahead of the play-offs. You can replay the discussion here
