Anthony Patterson's pre-match preparations paid off massively in our win against Sheffield United. Patto spoke about his research into the opposing players' penalty habits which lead to him saving Kieffer Moore's penalty to keep the score level early on in the game.
PRE MATCH PREP
“We get a sheet before every game of the potential penalty takers, and we watch a little bit of the clips and stuff and see if they've got any patterns or techniques or anything like that. That gives you an indication of where it's going to go, but then it also comes down to luck at the end of the day. You've got to make the saves still, but it's mainly luck. That's the hard part, but yeah, we obviously do plenty of research and whoever steps up, it kind of just clicks in your mind that I need to be able to dive this way or the other way or whatever. We do our research on the penalty takers, and I’ve sort of dived the right way. I’ve managed to stick a leg out and keep it out, and yeah, that’s what all the research comes to really.”
IMPORTANT WIN
“I think it was really important that we got the three points (against Sheff Utd). It probably wasn't the best we could play in possession, but defensively I thought we were really solid and made it really difficult for Sheffield United. That was important."
GRINDING OUT RESULTS
“Obviously, we were all gutted to concede two late goals against Blackburn and Stoke, but we showed great character and we all defended really well to protect our lead. It's been a quick turnaround as well. We knew it was going to be like that over Christmas, and we found ways to grind out results. Hopefully, it keeps continuing.”
