Quinn: "Still Work To Do"
United came from behind at York City to record their first opening day win since 1998, with debut goals from Gavin Hoyte and Lee Boylan, but manager Jimmy Quinn agreed his men did it the hard way.
"We had to show a lot of character after going one-nil down with the penalty. Even from where I was standing it didn't look like much of a challenge at all, but the referee gave the benefit of the doubt and when you go one-nil down away from home you're up against it," he commented.
"But I said to the lads we just need to have more confidence in our ability and try to anticipate rather than react; I thought we reacted a lot in the first half although we played quite well.
"Then of course we were lucky enough to get back into the game with a goal from big Gavin, and to be honest I didn't see the penalty incident so I can't really tell you what it was for, but we took the lead.
"If I was to be ultra-critical it was a great result but we didn't keep the ball well enough in the second half. The positives are that we got three points and it gives us a great start, but there's still a bit of work to do."
Throughout pre-season Quinn has declined to talk about United's chances of promotion and unsurprisingly he maintained that stance after a winning start.
"Without a shadow of a doubt we can't get carried away. If we're at the right end of the table at Christmas then we can start getting excited but there's a lot of games to be played. You know what football is like, it's full of ups and downs, but what we need to do is stick to the plan, keep focused, come to places like York and sometimes you have to grind out results, which we did many times last year, but that's a great start for the lads."
Pre-season has seen a great insistence on improved levels of strength and fitness, and the manager also praised his players for their effort and workrate in the blazing sunshine.
"We worked ever so hard. It was a very hot day and sometimes the people watching don't realise how hot it is for the players out there," he said approvingly. "They put a lot of effort in and all credit to them, there's a good spirit there. I thought Mark Albrighton was outstanding today, but they all played well.
"It's a good start but that's gone now and now we've got to focus on the game on Thursday," he warned. "There's pressure in every game you play and it's a big game for us against Oxford.
"York turned us over near the end of last season at our place and psychologically it was a big game for us today. Last year at our place Oxford beat us comfortably 3-0 so there's a bit of a challenge there and I want to see how much we've progressed since the last time we played them at home.
"The cameras will be there, I'm quite sure the fans will be looking forward to it and the players will certainly be up for. We've got a good spirit and I'm not saying we're going to win every game, but Leo Fortune-West has come into the side after just training for one day and I thought he did very well in what he does.
"He's not going to run away from many people but he held the ball up and won his headers and he's going to be a big player for us this season."
Mark Convery limped off during the second half against his former club and Quinn explained that the midfielder had a tight hamstring, which he hopes was down to lactic acid rather than a pulled muscle. The problem will be assessed again tomorrow.
United's next match is at home to Oxford United on Thursday (7.45pm), which has been selected for live TV coverage by Setanta Sports.
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