Wanderers Head Coach Steven Schumacher was “really happy” after his side returned to winning ways with a 1-0 victory away at Mansfield Town in Sky Bet League One on Tuesday night.
Jordi Osei-Tutu’s strike late in the first-half proved the difference as Wanderers moved up to 5th against Nigel Clough’s Stags, who had Rhys Oates sent off following a challenge on Ethan Erhahon.
Speaking to Wanderers TV after full-time in Nottinghamshire, Schumacher discussed an important three points.
Schumacher said: “I’m really happy with the result, it won’t be a game that we’ll remember forever. It was difficult, especially when some teams go down to 10 men early on, it becomes easy because the pitch can be open and you get more space, but quite often in these types of places on tight pitches that can sometimes be harder to play against as they don’t have to come out of their shape and there’s no space. Credit to our lads, we found a way to win the game and that’s all that’s important.
“We’ve managed to win the game and as I said to the players at the end, it’s difficult at times, it can go against you playing against 10 men but tonight it didn’t so we’re made up.
“Once they went down to 10 men we were probably a bit slow at times with the ball, which again is natural, you’re looking for spaces that aren’t there, our wide players kept rolling inside the pitch at the end of the first-half and it made it even more congested in the central areas so we just said at half-time to try and play a bit wider, but obviously getting the goal just before half-time, we didn’t need to make the substitutions right at half-time, we just wanted to settle into the second-half. The wide players tried to create more one vs one situations and a few more chances, which we did in the second-half but we didn’t manage to take one.
“It was a good finish in the end. Jordi had a similar chance a couple of weeks ago at home against Bradford, but it shows the importance of putting crosses in the box especially when teams are camped in front of the goal, you can’t just play it in, you have to put it in there, there was a bit of a ricochet and deflection that falls to Jordi and it gets us the goal and ultimately wins us the game, so we’re pleased."
Wanderers navigated through pressure from Mansfield late on, with goalkeeper Teddy Sharman-Lowe and the backline registering another clean sheet, and the Head Coach gave credit to his players after a resolute display.
Schumacher continued: “It was probably for the last five minutes I’d say where we said protect what we’ve got a little bit and not commit too many bodies forward. We kept pushing to get the second goal because I felt that we might have needed it as we were against a team who are good from long-throws, they’re good from set-pieces, hit a lot of balls into your box, you don’t want to give any mistakes and I think our players deserve credit for that.
“We managed the game quite well and in the end it’s enough.
“While it’s only 1-0, there was going to be a spell of pressure where the opposition get a throw in, get a free-kick, the goalkeeper came up and kicked one into the box, there’s always going to be a spell like that where they are in the game, but I thought we managed it reasonably well, three points is all that matters, another clean sheet which keeps that tally moving and it’s three points on the board.
“We spoke a lot about responding, good teams find a way to bounce back and I don’t question the character of these lads, every time we’ve lost, they’ve won the very next game, but now we switch the focus to the one after, put back-to-back wins together, we’ve got a big game at home against Exeter, we want to try and win that to keep us going in the right direction.”
Wanderers were backed by a brilliant travelling support at the One Call Stadium, and Schumacher was pleased to send the fans home happy with a result which keeps the Whites moving forward.
He added: “It’s not a classic but no-one will care, it’s another away victory, the fans can drive home happy with all three points in the bag instead of just one, and it keeps us moving in the right direction, it was nice to celebrate, so onto the next one.”
Watch Steven’s full post-match interview on Wanderers TV by clicking here!