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Joe Delighted
Joe Delighted
Saturday, 27th Nov 2004 19:07

Town boss Joe Royle was delighted to see his side go top of the league but was more pleased with his defenders than his strikers after the 1-0 win against Brighton. Seagulls' manager Mark McGhee felt his team ought to have had two penalties during the second half.

Royle said: "I am delighted that we are top of the table but I know how hard it will be to stay there.

"Our first half display was terrific, without getting a second goal. After the interval, our front two stopped passing to each other and I'll be talking about that in training.

"We had our obligatory ten nervous minutes at the end but we are defending better these days and I thought Richard Naylor was man of the match. He and Jason De Vos are playing well together.

"Brighton had five in midfield and three central defenders and kept it tight for a long time. We have been winning games this season that we were drawing previously and our three defeats tells you that we are becoming hard to beat."

The Town manager was impressed with scorer Shefki Kuqi's endeavour, if not his consistency in front of goal: "Shefki runs miles for us. He has nine goals this season and took his chance well. Then he missed from seven inches in the second half, but that's how it goes."

Opposite number Mark McGhee was angry at referee Trevor Kettle's yellow carding of Danny Cullip: "The booking of Danny for diving was ludicrous. I've seen the incident again on video. It was a stonewall penalty."

The ex-Reading, Leicester, Wolves and Millwall boss also felt Leon Knight was fouled in the area by Fabian Wilnis: "Leon was honest and kept on his feet. He got his shot away, didn't score and the referee did not give a penalty. You just hope the officials get these important decisions right."

However, he was pleased with his side's overall performance: "Last season we were very basic and quite agricultural at times. I am delighted with our progress. We are a footballing team now. The change is just quantum and this is the only way we will stay up.

"We are limited in terms of resources but given the circumstances, some of our results this season and the performance today deserve great credit. We have no flexibility to bring in new players; we just cannot afford the wages.

"We have to play to our strengths. We have no pace up front in the absence of Adam Virgo, and he is really a defender.

"Ipswich didn't get behind us or cause us any embarrassment. I was quite satisfied with our approach but disappointed with the result. We kept it tight and made ourselves difficult to beat.

"It is unrealistic to believe we should travel to places like Ipswich and win but we have had some good results and now we need to win 10 of our last 25 games to give us a chance of staying up."


Photo: Action Images



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