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Gary Madine’s first-half free-kick ensured that Wanderers began 2018 in style as they picked up all three points with victory over Hull City on New Year’s Day.
The striker hit the decisive effort in the 20th minute of the clash, with the Whites standing firm to secure their second win inside three days following on from Saturday’s triumph over Sheffield United.
And speaking after the final whistle, manager Phil Parkinson covered the following points…
On starting the calendar year with a bang…
We’d spoken about the importance of back-to-back wins and having got that first away league win under our belts against Sheffield United at the weekend, backing that up today against Hull City was so, so crucial.
We had a bit of adversity to deal with when losing Karl and Darren, but we didn’t let it affect us.
The lads who came on were excellent and it was very much a gritty performance today. It had to be as Hull have got some good players, but we dug deep and I am very, very pleased with the win.
On getting back-to-back wins…
Today just backs up the performance we produced at Sheffield United at the weekend – it’s made that result look even better than it did beforehand.
Two games in three days is tough on the legs, but the fitness of the players today looked really good. We can have a bit of a breather for a few days now before regrouping on Thursday when we’ll pick the team to go again against Huddersfield.
On getting consecutive clean sheets…
We spoke to the lads about their concentration levels and getting three clean sheets out of the last four games is a good return for us.
Against Cardiff, it was a great performance in terms of our concentration levels and then we went to Middlesbrough where in all fairness, we were probably a bit fatigued from the efforts we’d put into the game three days earlier.
We regrouped at Bramall Lane however and the supporters who travelled down there saw a very good away performance.
And today we’ve backed it up again, so we’re very pleased and now we move onto the FA Cup.
On how the players have responded after the defeat to Burton prior to Christmas…
Burton have won 3-0 away at Sheffield Wednesday today and I have said all along that they’re a dangerous team because of the way they sit in and get bodies behind the ball.
You see a lot of it in the Premier League at the moment where the lesser teams play the top teams, and Burton are good at that.
As much as the defeat to them was a blow for us, I still felt that we had a lot of good chances to get something from the match but sometimes you don’t get what you deserve.
You’ve got to dust yourself down though and move on quickly which we have done.
On Gary Madine getting himself on the scoresheet again…
His goal was a moment of real quality – it’s a fantastic goal and it gave the keeper no chance. His all-round performance however was great today again.
Heading the ball out of his own six yard box with three minutes to go, and then running up the other end and nearly making it 2-0 – it’s all a real indication of Gary’s fitness levels.
On players who have been out of the team coming in and playing their parts…
The win at Sheffield United was an important one as we freshened the team up, so the lads who came into the team today like Sammy and Mark Little alongside Vela and Buckley knew that they had to raise their games after missing out at the weekend.
The lads need a lift physically and you could see that the ones who didn’t figure at Bramall Lane had that bit of freshness in their legs.
And finally, on the challenge of Huddersfield Town next up in the FA Cup…
Both teams will probably make changes, but we’ve got players who need a breather now and some who are desperate to play, so we’ll pick a team for the game who will allow us to give a good account of ourselves.
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The striker hit the decisive effort in the 20th minute of the clash, with the Whites standing firm to secure their second win inside three days following on from Saturday’s triumph over Sheffield United.
And speaking after the final whistle, manager Phil Parkinson covered the following points…
On starting the calendar year with a bang…
We’d spoken about the importance of back-to-back wins and having got that first away league win under our belts against Sheffield United at the weekend, backing that up today against Hull City was so, so crucial.
We had a bit of adversity to deal with when losing Karl and Darren, but we didn’t let it affect us.
The lads who came on were excellent and it was very much a gritty performance today. It had to be as Hull have got some good players, but we dug deep and I am very, very pleased with the win.
On getting back-to-back wins…
Today just backs up the performance we produced at Sheffield United at the weekend – it’s made that result look even better than it did beforehand.
Two games in three days is tough on the legs, but the fitness of the players today looked really good. We can have a bit of a breather for a few days now before regrouping on Thursday when we’ll pick the team to go again against Huddersfield.
On getting consecutive clean sheets…
We spoke to the lads about their concentration levels and getting three clean sheets out of the last four games is a good return for us.
Against Cardiff, it was a great performance in terms of our concentration levels and then we went to Middlesbrough where in all fairness, we were probably a bit fatigued from the efforts we’d put into the game three days earlier.
We regrouped at Bramall Lane however and the supporters who travelled down there saw a very good away performance.
And today we’ve backed it up again, so we’re very pleased and now we move onto the FA Cup.
On how the players have responded after the defeat to Burton prior to Christmas…
Burton have won 3-0 away at Sheffield Wednesday today and I have said all along that they’re a dangerous team because of the way they sit in and get bodies behind the ball.
You see a lot of it in the Premier League at the moment where the lesser teams play the top teams, and Burton are good at that.
As much as the defeat to them was a blow for us, I still felt that we had a lot of good chances to get something from the match but sometimes you don’t get what you deserve.
You’ve got to dust yourself down though and move on quickly which we have done.
On Gary Madine getting himself on the scoresheet again…
His goal was a moment of real quality – it’s a fantastic goal and it gave the keeper no chance. His all-round performance however was great today again.
Heading the ball out of his own six yard box with three minutes to go, and then running up the other end and nearly making it 2-0 – it’s all a real indication of Gary’s fitness levels.
On players who have been out of the team coming in and playing their parts…
The win at Sheffield United was an important one as we freshened the team up, so the lads who came into the team today like Sammy and Mark Little alongside Vela and Buckley knew that they had to raise their games after missing out at the weekend.
The lads need a lift physically and you could see that the ones who didn’t figure at Bramall Lane had that bit of freshness in their legs.
And finally, on the challenge of Huddersfield Town next up in the FA Cup…
Both teams will probably make changes, but we’ve got players who need a breather now and some who are desperate to play, so we’ll pick a team for the game who will allow us to give a good account of ourselves.
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