In his own words: Phil Parkinson post-Walsall

Read back the manager's post-match thoughts following Saturday's victory over the Saddlers

Wanderers produced a terrific fightback to secure their first win of 2017 as they beat Walsall 4-1 at Macron Stadium on Saturday.

Goals from Gary Madine, Liam Trotter and Chris Long, as well as a James O'Connor own goal, saw the Whites clinch all three points.

And speaking following the game, manager Phil Parkinson covered the following points… 

On today’s excellent victory…
It was very important today to get the win today. It’s a victory that will give everyone a lift after a difficult week and put a smile back on everybody’s face. 

Our job today was to get that victory and boost the confidence and we’ve done that. It was a difficult start after Oztumer scored a fantastic goal, but the way we responded was excellent.

I thought it was a very good team effort with everyone sticking to their jobs and it got us the win.

On the change in formation…
We’ve played a different system today that we’ve been working on all week. I thought the way the lads took to it was excellent and I’m especially pleased with the performance and the win.

On the performance of Liam Trotter…
I’m very pleased for Liam for both his goal and for his return to the team. He looked sharper today and the goal he scored was such a great goal.

I said earlier in the week that players who might not have featured as much will get the opportunity to play and Trotter is a good example. 

It was also pleasing to see what an excellent reception he got from the crowd when he was withdrawn late on.

On the contribution of his new January signings…
It was good for Filipe (Morais) to get those minutes under his belt. He’s a fit lad and he’s got quality. When the ball hits him it sticks and he’s got the ability to go past players when in one on one situations so I’m very pleased with his contributions.

With Chris (Long) we’ve said all season about player’s impact from the bench and not just his goal, but the running, the closing down and the way he lifted the team was very pleasing. 

He was perhaps unlucky to not start. In training he’s been excellent and I’m so pleased with his contribution and when he hit that ball I thought he’d broken the back of the net! What a finish.

And finally, on Tuesday’s game against Rochdale…
When you have two home games in the space of three days it’s important to win the first one and it takes a little bit of pressure off the next game.

It gives us that boost of confidence and now we’re looking forward to Tuesday’s home fixture against Rochdale.

We’ll have a look at them over the next couple of days and give ourselves the best chance of getting another three points.

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