Cook: The Team is Improving, the Consistency Has Been a Lot Better Friday, 12th Nov 2021 10:25 Town boss Paul Cook believes his side is improving and they’re showing more consistency than in the early stages of the season. Cook was asked to assess the Blues’ recent progress having moved up the table during October and from November’s one league match so far, the 4-1 win at Wycombe, into ninth place, four points behind tomorrow’s opponents Oxford United, who are in the final play-off place. “I was desperately disappointed to lose at Plymouth, if I’m being honest,” Cook reflected. “I really felt it was a game that we shouldn’t have lost. “You look back on the game on how they play out to concede the goal just before half-time was a killer blow. It changed the whole atmosphere in the stadium. “We had chance after chance in the second half to equalise and not just that, go on to win the game. “So, it’s a really, really tough question to answer because we are playing a little bit of catch-up and whenever you get a setback in catch-up it feels like you’ve done something wrong. “I think the team is improving, I think the consistency post the first six or eight games has been a lot, lot better and long may it continue.” Following the Oxford match, the Blues are off to Oldham for the FA Cup first-round replay but the Town manager isn’t looking any further ahead than tomorrow at present. “We can’t speak about games post-Oxford at the minute, you can’t let your mind wander in any shape or form,” Cook said. “I think the supporters who have seen from my team selection in the first game, the intent to win the game. Did I get that right or wrong? Only hindsight can answer that question. “We’ll get the Oxford game out the way, we’ve got a lot of lads champing at the bit to play, as our supporters will have seen on Tuesday night and then we’ll pick the strongest, best team we feel that can go to Oldham and win the game on Tuesday. That would see us go to Sunderland next week in a fantastic position.” Cook was happy with the display against Colchester, despite only winning on penalties with the game ending 0-0. The Town manager is delighted that the Blues will play at home in the next round having been elevated to the top of the group after West Ham’s U21s were docked points for fielding an ineligible player. “One hundred per cent,” he said. “It’s quite ironic, two of our better performances at home this year have been Newport and Colchester. We’re a free-scoring team and we haven’t scored in either game and lost one and drawn one, which is quite amazing as a coach or a manager. “I really enjoyed the game on Tuesday night and no different from the Newport game at home. You come away from games like that thinking, ‘How haven’t we won?’. “So, to have a home tie in the next round, we had 8,000 fans in the stadium, probably due to the Colchester fixture and the relationship of previous players that have been here, that can only grow. It’ll be great to get whoever we get and hopefully, we can progress in the competition.” Asked how Sone Aluko enjoyed the experience of captaining the Blues against the U’s, Cook said: “I haven’t really asked him, if I’m being truthful. I think Sone’s been a class act since he’s come into the football club, just how he conducts himself, how he trains. “Probably Conor Chaplin might have had it, Scott Fraser might have had it, there were one or two other lads. “The team was put together, if you like, and when you put those teams together, sometimes you just want to give the captain’s armband to the person that deserves it the most. “We felt Sone was our most experienced player in the line-up and with great pride wore the armband for Ipswich Town on Tuesday night.”
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