“Overall I thought Saturday was a professional performance from the lads, we created numerous chances, kept a clean sheet and maintained our recent good run in form.”
“We’ve been very creative and on the front foot over the past four games, when it gets to this stage of the season it’s not necessarily the performance that matters it’s all about the result. There’s been times this season where we have played very well and got nothing from the game, it’s always nice if you can get both but nothing matters more than the three points.”

2. We could have easily been three or four up at the break, does it concern you that we aren’t making it more comfortable when it probably should be?
“Not at all, I would be concerned if we were struggling to create chances but that’s not the case, it’s rare you see teams win four or five nil every week, except from Manchester City.”
“In the past four games we have scored 9 and conceded 2, with figures like that I am not concerned at all. We have a lot of quality in our attacking options and I believe since Luke (Porritt) came on loan he’s given us a different dimension going forward. Joe and Sav’s have been brilliant playing together up top recently and both scored goals, with Casey playing some of the best football I’ve seen him play at the club and getting himself a lot of assists.”

2. We have to talk about your stunning goal, I mean, the one at Belper was good but this was next level, you can’t have scored one better than that in your career surely?

“Yeah free kicks is something I’ve worked on a lot this season to be honest, the one against Belper was a decent one but the one last Saturday is the best goal I’ve scored in non-league, as soon as I struck it I knew it was in. I’d come close the week before against Stocksbridge hitting the crossbar also. Some of the lads joked after that I should retire now after scoring that one, hopefully it’s not my last one before I hang up my boots.”

4. Touching on your decision to retire at the end of the season, for people that don’t already know, what made you come to that conclusion at this time?
“Retirement was something I actually thought about last season at Hyde, but after speaking to Si and Mikey I wanted to finish my career at Tadcaster by hopefully helping the club gain promotion. Everyone knows how much the club means to me and I’ve always felt like I had unfinished business here. The demands of non-league football is hard to juggle with work now for me, I’ve been lucky enough to play since I was 16 years old so it’s been a massive part of my life. Anyone who has played or worked with me knows I always give 100% to every training, match and how busy I am with the gym etc away from football. Next season I would not be able to commit 100% due to work commitments and I don’t think you can give anything less to be successful.”

5. Eight games to go, how important is Saturday’s game against Spalding given that we have a week off the following week?

“I know it is a cliché but every game is a cup final, we just have to take each game one by one. Hopefully we can continue our recent good form and maintain our high standards which we set ourselves, and if we do that I don’t think we will be far away from our targets and ambitions we set at the start of the season. We are expecting a really difficult game today against a strong Spalding side, so we will have to start the game bright and perform well to get a positive result.”

6. Finally, with only 5 out of 7 teams at Step 4 eligible for promotion out of the play-offs and with ours currently one of the lower ones, how do you as players feel about that going into the final few games?

“Regarding the points per game we’ve hardly even spoke about it, at the end of the day the outcome of the season is completely in our own hands. We just need to keep our heads down, work hard and take each game as it comes. If you look through our side we have a very good mix of experience and youth, there are around 10 players who have all won promotions from various divisions in non-league. From a mentality aspect I think that could play a big part in how we perform, its massive that us experienced players keep everyone relaxed, calm and just play our own game and don’t change our style of play due to pressure. It’s key that the lads enjoy playing and keep doing what we have done for the majority of this season.”

“I hope everyone enjoys today’s game, make yourselves vocal and cheer the boys on because the supporters will play a huge part in how successful our season will be. We are all in this together.

The lads thank you for the support today and in recent weeks.”

Paddy #ATAW