SKIPPER Richard Hope put in a fine performance at the back against Wycombe Wanderers, but he had to grit his teeth to do it!
After sustaining a nasty gash to the head last Sunday, Hope was patched up and cleared to play against The Chairboys, but that wasn't the end of the problem!
"I got a bang on the head and had to have four stitches on Sunday, but as I was heading the ball in the warm up they came out! There was no time to do them again before the game, so I just had to carry on.
"It's just one of those things as a centre half, you just have to get on with it. While you play the game you don't really feel the pain; it's afterwards when you get stitched up again that you feel it!"
Hope was pleased with the much improved performance against Wycombe, especially in the first half.
"The way we went about things we were very unfortunate not to win. We were talking about it in the changing room afterwards and considering how the game went we consider it to be two points dropped.
"We've thrown away points in other games too, and we worked out that we've dropped nine points recently which should have been ours.There's a big difference between where we could have been had we gained those points and where we actually are, but I think it shows that we're not as bad a team as the table suggests we are.
"We looked solid. In a lot of games recently we've started alright and come in at 0-0 at half time, but when we've tried to take the game to them in the second half we've been caught, so I'm pleased to keep a clean sheet; I take pride in them.
"It's also our first draw of the season, so it's a point towards pulling us up the table. It's a while until our next league game, but we can concentrate on the cup on Saturday.
"I think a lot of times this season we've let ourselves down and let the fans down so I was glad that the reception the fans gave us at the end showed that they appreciated the effort we put in and how unlucky we were to not get the three points. Hopefully there are more performances like that to come."
Of course, the game was played against the backdrop of Brian Carey's changed circumstances, but the players were not distracted by the matter.
"We showed good mental strength by keeping our concentration on the pitch. There's a lot of speculation and who knows what's going to happen? But our job's to play football, to train hard and to put performances in on the pitch."
