Martin: Team Spirit Good
Monday, 26th Nov 2012 06:00

Midfielder Lee Martin insists that there is a good team spirit at Portman Road despite the rapid recent turnover of players. Currently there are eight loanees at the club - plus short-term signing Nigel Reo-Coker - with two more loan players having moved on in the last few weeks.

Martin, who was fouled for the penalty from which DJ Campbell scored Town's equaliser against Peterborough on Saturday, said: “Team spirit has always been there. There have been players who have gone in and out. It has been tough having eight loan players coming in.

“We have heard this stuff about how the permanent players don’t care, but I can assure you they do.

“The loan players and permanent players do work together on bonding together. The manager and Terry Connor are making sure that happens.

“We came in on Monday [after the 6-0] and it was all doom and gloom but we had a good, fun morning and it was like, ‘Right move on, we can’t dwell on that’.

“There were signs in the second half [on Saturday] that we can do that, we just have to believe more.”

He says that self-belief that they can turn things around can only come from the players themselves: “We have to find the confidence from somewhere but it has to come from within the squad — no one else can do that.

“Even the boys missing from the squad, it is up to us, the players, the gaffer, everyone, to pull together, and the gaffer is trying to get us to express ourselves.

“There is a nervous edge but it is down to us to get rid of that and get playing football.”

Martin has a lot of time for new boss Mick McCarthy’s approach: “He is a reasonable manager. He has come and lifted the place and told us to believe.

“He has given us an air of confidence, which we were lacking before and, OK we have had some freak results against us, but we have picked up seven points, and hopefully this will stop the rot and be the start of a good run.

“The first half was edgy but the second half showed in patches what we are capable of.”

The winger says McCarthy can be tough but believes that that’s only one facet to his character: “He has got that in him but he has got that relaxed approach saying ‘Don’t force it, play your football and it will come’.

“It has shown in his other teams. We have the hard work element, so we will get results.

“The gaffer is not stupid, he has come in, assessed it, seen the fear factor and knows confidence is low, so if you keep battering the lads they are not going to respond. He has lifted them.”

One change McCarthy has made is to introduce a new matchday sartorial code: “The gaffer made us wear suits and the players look smart, are implementing his ideas and we are taking note. We are in the process of change and it is working.”

Meanwhile, Peterborough striker Lee Tomlin was delighted with his goal: “It was a great ball in by Joe Newell and Saido Berahino made a great run, which took the defenders away, but I was still surprised at the amount of room I was allowed and was happy to be able to finish.

“I thought we would go on and create even more chances but the game became scrappy and they were horrible conditions to play in.”

The former Rushden and Diamonds man, who netted a hat-trick in the infamous 7-1 at London Road last season, was less impressed with the spotkick, awarded for his foul on Martin, although his manager Darren Ferguson had no complaints: “That was never a penalty," Tomlin insisted.

“I put my leg out but then pulled it away but the lad went over it. The referee twice yelled ‘No’ but then pointed to the spot, which surprised me really given he had said it wasn’t a penalty twice previously.

“At the point we could have crumbled, the lads could have given up but as the game progressed I felt there was only going to be one winner and that was us.”

Photo: Action Images

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MattinLondon added 06:06 - Nov 26 So they care and the team spirit is good...which means the reason why we are in the bottom three is because they are not good enough.
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