Micky Mellon spoke to the local press ahead of Saturday's home game against Rochdale in Sky Bet League Two. Micky's men are on a fine run of form but the Manager isn't taking anything for granted.
Speaking ahead of the visit of Rochdale on Saturday, the manager spoke about the season so far, team news going into the game, and the opponents themselves.
He said: “I’m always very cautious, because up until now, the season’s gone well. We’ve found a way of scoring goals, found a way of defending well, which will always give you a chance.
“We’re going to keep trying to improve, and keep trying to find the consistency. That’s what the challenge is now, is to keep going with what we’re doing and get better at it. When you get better at it, the least you want is to be consistent at it.
“You also don’t want to drop below your standards and your levels, so we’ll keep working hard on that, and stay tough on ourselves. Keep facing forward, and keep going.”
Mellon also spoke about the side’s resilience, highlighting the qualities shown on Tuesday night away at Salford.
“You look at it as a manager, and you look for signs. You look for ‘has it gone desperate?’, ‘have we lost our shape?’, or ‘do we trust what we’re doing?’.
“On Tuesday night, the players kept going. They never lost their shape, and believed at some stage that we’d get that opportunity. We did, and we took it.
“There’s obviously things that I’d like us to get better at. But on Tuesday night, we stuck to what we believed in, and what we have to do in order to try and get results. Did we do it with as much quality as we have done? No, but in terms of resilience and digging in, which are great qualities.
“We got a deserved equaliser, but we were just unable to get the winner.”
The manager also welcomed back a number of players to the squad, but did confirm one player would miss out due to COVID.
“Everybody’s back, who was out from COVID. But just as everyone comes back, we did lose one to COVID. Don’t want to say who that is at the minute, but we’ve lost one player this week. But we’ve gained the likes of McManaman back, Knight-Percival, everybody’s come back today.”
Mellon then spoke about Saturday’s opposition, Rochdale. In the reverse fixture earlier in the season, Rovers lost 1-0, and Mellon says they’re a good side.
“They beat us, over at Rochdale in a very tight game earlier in the season. They’re very capable of doing that. We know that they’re a good football team, they’re a possession-based team.
“But they’re coming to Prenton Park. I know the manager very well, he’s a good guy. They’ll know that at Prenton Park, my team will have a good go, and we’re looking forward to it. A really good game.
“We’re over halfway through the season, so all the games are really important. So it’s really spicy, and quite local-ish. A game we’re looking forward to.”