Lee Johnson was understandably delighted with the 4-0 victory at Lincoln City: “That’s the standard now. In terms of the standards both on and off the pitch, that was a very important win. It allows the players to believe and the fans to believe. The bit I’m so impressed with to be honest is just how well the lads have understood the protocol. We’ve fired in a lot of detail and terminology and, to be fair to them, they have really taken it in. I thought the compactness both in and out of possession really gave us the positional strength to go and break down what is a very good side. We ain't going to draw many games in this division. I tell you that now. There's no way in a million years I'll go into any game to draw. We were lucky - they had two one-on-ones in the first ten minutes. We have to risk that with the high press, but knowing we can score four should give the boys that feeling that if we do make that mistake, which we will at times because I'm asking to them to be so on the front foot, then we can go and bang in three or four.”
LJ ON JACK DIAMOND’S PERFORMANCE
"What Jack gives us is an attribute that we haven't got. It gives us the ability to stretch the play. I remember at Yeovil when my dad signed a lot of good footballers, but we needed someone to stretch the play. He signed a lad called for Adam Stansfield for a bag of balls and he just enabled the footballers in the side to play. That was the attribute I was looking for. It's well known that we're looking for that type of player [in January] but if we've got it in our ranks, then there'll be no need to sign one. {I subbed him because] the referee had basically said the next error [he would be off]. He’s so quick, it’s not easy to decelerate when you’re running into things. It was just risk averse really, to make sure he didn’t get sent off. I look for game impact with the young players. They're allowed to make technical and tactical mistakes. If I see Jack make those mistakes, it's my job to work with him on that. If it's an attitude error, then trust me I'll be coming down on him like a ton of bricks. All I can do is encourage young players like that and hope that they gain the confidence and experience to flourish."
GAFFER ON JOSH SCOWEN’S INJURY
“I think he’s (Scowen) been brilliant. He’s obviously known me from before, but I think he’s been excellent. I don’t know (how bad it is). He just felt some shooting pains on the muscle that goes up the side of the shin. Hopefully, it’s one of those where he’ll be in some pain for 24 hours and then it’ll start to ease off. He’s not sure whether it was a knock or a muscle injury. It seemed more like a knock, but we’ll have to wait and see.”
