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[Darren]

Cote's quotes: Histon 1 Alty 0
3:57pm Wednesday 3rd September 2008

 
By Connor Murphy »

ALTY boss Graham Heathcote is aiming to instill a true passion for Alty in his players as they bid to overcome their current troubles.

The Robins lost 1-0 at Histon on Tuesday night - extending their winless streak to six games - and although Heathcote praised the attitude of his players, he wants to see 100 per cent commitment every game.

It doesn’t get any easier for Alty, with league leaders Salisbury the visitors to Moss Lane on Saturday, and the relegation zone coming ever closer.

“What I have to get into this squad of players is a feeling for the club,” Heathcote told SAM Sport.

“It can’t just be another club, we have to be at it for 90 minutes of every game. It has to really hurt them when we lose.

“That performance (against Histon) shows we’ve got heart but we have to show that every game. If we had done against Eastbourne on Saturday we’d have won.”

But despite being happy with the effort against Histon, Heathcote certainly wasn't happy with the return from the past two away games.

Although he believes luck hasn't been on his team's side - Antonio Murray getting away with a handball in the build-up to the only goal of the game at Histon - he is confident that will change if performances improve.

He said: "It's really disappointing because we've got no return from the two games.

"It was handball before the lad scored and that's gone against us.

"We've not had much luck in recent games. I thought Eastbourne's goal on Saturday was offside and I'm not convinced that Dale Johnson was offside when he put the ball in the net on Tuesday.

"But there are no excuses. We have to improve and we have to get the combinations together in our game.

"We did OK against Histon but you've got to think about how much we troubled the keeper over the 90 minutes. We didn't do it enough.

"We need to start getting past people because we are not getting in behind teams enough at the moment.

"That's how you cause problems, just as we did against Barrow. We have not attacked with the same verve since that game but the problem is we let in four so we've probably been more cautious since.

"It's taking longer than I expected for this team to gel but we need to find a balance between defence and attack."

[JTH]

An honest appraisal I think. Irrespective of peoples' views on whether GH is 'fireproof', I think he can only be properly judged by 'FA Cup 4Q time' as to whether he is getting the best out of this squad of players. Essentially we have a new team playing / attempting to play a different system so it will obviously take time and frustrating as it may be we'll need to be patient. 

[Jezza]

The 'cote also said before the Eastbourne game and i quote "We know what we want to achieve and that is to be here in 20 years".

I'm not sure if that means the 'cote has a 20 year contract but that should be plenty of time to get the team to gel!

[Uncle Globnasty]

Perhaps he's intending on retiring to the South Coast.........I'll get my coat (no pun intended).

[jimbo]

anybody who understands football should know that all the new signings have done is give us a chance.yes a chance of finishing out of the relegation zone.with a bit of luck a bit higher ,maybe.we have maybe improved are attacking options when we play with some new lads but we then have looked shaky at the back and midfield?so gh is in an obvious dilema .everyone wanted more flair yet to what cost ,droyslden for example.so can we get on with it cos this may go to the wire again i expect .if it dosnt it wont be far off.if we survive gh has done his job if not he hasnt.all normal football fans do you agree?

[tottenham alty]

We need to play to our strengths, Johnson and Little need to start linking up better, once Johnson went off against Histon Colin had no support up front. Joe tries his best but is not good enough as a stiker imo...

[Sarf London Alty]

The last 2 away games it'e benn small margins. The awful finishing at Eastbourne and then the handball at Histon, we should be sat here with 4 more league points and then things wouldn't look nearly as bad. Having seen Salisbury last year I have no idea how they are top, we need to crack on starting Saturday and get the home points.