He also agrees it's good to see the club back in a cup event after such a long time.

Yeah, it's a bit of a strange one, Rob, because like I said, the league have been really, really good on the understanding of our financial issues and they kept allowing us to be moved out of it.

And to be back in it now, obviously, is a nice feeling.

I know it's nice for the fans.

I know they've missed it.

Great on the basis I can give some of the younger lads a run this weekend.

I know Jimmy's had a little bit of time in the league games, but we're going to have Preston Cleet is going to be involved in Dylan Bullock, which is really good.

But does it feel almost a bit like there's a little bit of pressure off your shoulders for this weekend? You're not having to think about the intensity and the demand of league fixtures this weekend?

joined again by fcl of man manager lee dixon lee thank you for your time as always now this weekend is something a little different for fcl of man something we haven't seen in well nearly four years in fact fcl of man involved in cup competition making a return to the macron cup for the first time since 2022 so just first off on a general note um how good does it feel to be able to dip back into a cup competition as a club for the first time in the best part of four years

yeah it's a bit of a strange one Rob because like I said the league have been really really good on the understanding of our financial issues and they kept allowing us to be removed out of it and to be back in it now obviously is a nice feeling I know it's nice for the fans I know they've missed it over the years when we've had all the fan forums and the Q&A sessions and that with them it's the one thing that always always comes up and I know Dave Matheson in particular will be particularly happy because he constantly asks the question about can we be back in the cup and with a view to ending up in the main FA Cup for real.

So this is obviously a step back in that direction.

Great on the basis that I can give some of the younger lads a run this weekend.

I know Jimmy's had a little bit of time in the league games, but we're going to have Preston Cleet is going to be involved in Dylan Bullock, which is really good.

and be able to give them minutes on the pitch and have a look where they're up to and they've obviously over at Tranmere Rovers in their scheme and I believe they're getting on very well I stay in touch with Matt Hunt who's their youth team manager over there on a regular basis and so being able to give lads like that is invaluable game time I go back to the first season when we blooded people like Charlie Sam Baines Jacob Crook Kyle Watson All these lads that now have been regulars and are regulars.

It was that cup competition initially that gave us the chance to get them onto the pitch and give them that experience and start to develop them towards becoming more regular players in the main squad, playing in the league fixes and what have you.

Does it feel almost a bit like there's a little bit of pressure off your shoulders for this weekend? You're not having to think about the intensity and the demand of league fixtures this weekend?

it

happened at times and it spilled over a little bit last night.

between some of the players and they were a few whinging about, you know, the intensity of the tackles or the physicality of what was going on.

But I said to them, that's what I want.

I want it to be exactly replicated by what's going to happen on a Saturday because Charnock Richard are going to come here wanting to upset the odds and stay above us in the league and make that, create that as to an even bigger gap.

So in training, there's no good us going half tilted towards each other.

It has to be absolutely full throttle.

now a few games in you've had obviously pre-season long behind you how good is your understanding now of what your squad's capabilities are and also does it give you a clearer picture of what your best set-up is looking like?

Obviously, it was a tough

weekend last weekend.

The result, obviously, not great.

nothing really went our way the day was a disaster from start to finish from the boat getting to the game late the result performance in the first half which ultimately probably had a massive impact by the travel and I said to you we just have to put it behind us and forget about it and some of the lads on Tuesday were still a little bit down and I chatted with them and I just pointed out to them we've played five out of the top six teams in our eight games So you've got to put a bit of perspective on that, I think, and look at what the results were.

There's probably only one of them games where I thought we may not have been quite good enough to beat them.

All the other teams on the day we played them, we should have won the games.

I think we drew three of them, but we should have won.

Are you starting to get, or how good is your understanding now, should I say, of what your squad's capabilities are? And also, does it give you a clearer picture of what your best setup is looking like?

What went wrong today?

everything absolutely everything Rob it started we got on the boat this morning it was a horrific crossing for the players there's a lot of the players vomited on the way over it was a really tough journey we arrived at the ground half an hour before kick-off and we had to push it back 10 minutes but it's just not a good day we just we let ourselves down in the first half but being fair to the lads I think you've got to give them a little bit of credit for their situation and what they faced themselves but they're not good enough in the first half second half much much better really competed up until they got the third goal and it knocked the wind out of our sails again but Some days are going to be like this.

We're a young team.

You could see it today.

It was like boys versus men at times in the first half.

Unfortunately, we're just going to have to endure these things and keep moving forward.

Obviously, as we mature, we get much better as a group.

You know, how do you, from a mental side of things, after maybe the raw emotion of today has passed, how do you go about trying to process that in a constructive way going into next weekend?

I asked him how it feels to have mostly played other teams around them that have made a good start at this early stage.

I think we might have played four or five of the top eight already and this is another one.

So, listen, there's obviously a plus and a minus to that.

Obviously, sometimes you want to play maybe the teams that are struggling a bit more so you can try and build some momentum and confidence.

But at the same time, when you're fresh and raring to go and we're full of vigour at the minute, I just think that maybe playing them teams now is benefiting in so much as the lads are really, really focused coming off the back of pre-season.

We've got through them initial sort of six games that I said was going to be part of our pre-season now.

And we're still in pretty good fettle.

Does a game like this come at a good time at the moment? You know, coming up against that standard when, quite generally, FCL have had a decent start to the campaign?

What's confidence like in the camp at the moment, given the run of results you've been able to put together at the start of the season so far?

Yeah, I watched the game on the live stream and I thought for the first 20 minutes they were outstanding and I could see why they were top of the league.

Technically, absolutely brilliant.

And then after 20 minutes, we seemed to get a hold on them and we started pinning them back in their half.

And I thought for the last 75 minutes, I thought we were by far the best team.

Really, really unfortunate not to come away with the three points.

But I think again, I think the lads, to all the fans that were down there and anyone watching, I think the lads showed just what kind of commitment and determination they've got as a group this season.

But how have you felt about the progress that the players have made in terms of just their general experience of what it takes to win at this level so far?

He expects this weekend to be a big contrast to the 6-0 thrashing his team gave Abihay on Tuesday.

Let's not kid ourselves.

They're going to be a completely different proposition than what Abbey Hay were in midweek.

I think we understand that.

We've had a chat about our training.

But go back to Abbey Hay.

Obviously, we spoke about what we were going to do to try and rectify the problems we had at Trafford and starting so slow in the first half.

I mean, I know you won't be in the dugout this weekend, but although that might be entertaining for the spectators and the neutrals out there, the high scoring games of the past, I imagine in the dugout, you probably want something a little more straightforward.

How important is that side of it, the defensive side of this, going to be up against the early league leaders this weekend?

Yeah, it's massive, Rob.

I mean, go back to the Abbey Hay one.

They've conceded five and six in two other games, but in them games, they scored two in one and three in the other.

So they're not a bad team.

And yes, they're struggling, but actually to show how dangerous they are with the ball in them games, they conceded five and six, but still managed to score.

We didn't concede, so...

And just finally as well, looking at things quite generally at the moment, if you were to get some form of positive results at the weekend, how would you, I suppose, some of the attitude that the players have had so far in these very early stages of the season?

So should there be still, despite the results of the weekend, should there still be a good deal of confidence in the squad of what they've shown already in these early stages going into tonight?

Yeah, absolutely, mate.

I mean, I said I'm not going to overreact to what happened on Saturday.

We lost and it was disappointing.

We didn't perform how we could have in the first half, but...

Also, let's take into account, they're a good team.

They had really good players and we got beat 1-0 and we missed two or three chances where we could have and should have done much, much better.

What's the squad looking like for tonight compared to last weekend?

So how do you balance trying to get that message across to the players today that maybe there are some reality checks in there, you want things to improve, but not going too overboard and trying to almost make sure that the players take lessons from it as well?

Yeah, listen, I want men not to overreact with them.

Obviously, I went in at them at half-time a little bit because I wasn't happy with what they'd done and I don't think they were happy with themselves.

They needed that pointed out to them, but there's no need to overreact.

We've had a decent start to the season.

Today hasn't gone our way.

I'm sure there'll be games going forward where we don't play well and we don't deserve anything from the game and we'll get things out of the game.

You've mentioned there there's maybe a couple of players you'll have to assess going into the start of next week as well, but how do you make sure that, I suppose, those words that have been said at half-time and full-time today and with that result are used to maybe be fuel for the fire instead of something that the players will stew on, to use it to their advantage going into next week?

So how do you approach coming up against a complete unknown this weekend?

Well, we go about it mostly by trying to ignore this, ignore exactly what you've just said.

We just need to deal with ourselves.

be good at what we're good at, play to the strengths of what we have.

And then obviously in the game, in minute by minute, we deal with what the opposition are going to offer.

What I do know is that they score a lot of goals.

So they're obviously very aggressive attacking side who like to leave themselves potentially exposed for doing what we're good at on the break.

But just finally on that point, like you say, you may have certain first-team players unavailable over the next two games, but does that open the door for other players who you've maybe seen throughout pre-season so far as well and the efforts they've put in to maybe bring themselves into your thinking more regularly?

On the flip side of that, I mean, what are the sorts of things that maybe you think could be improved upon or added to for this weekend?

Obviously, I want to see a little bit more quality with the ball.

Inevitably, start of the season, it's all a little bit chaotic in the games and both games have been.

and we've been obviously very defensively very strong we've had a really tight compact unit one of the downsides of that to being obviously I think at times we could have showed much more composure but I also understand that when the lads are all hands to the pump and you win the ball back sometimes the decision making cannot be great so we've had a discussion around that and sort of when we win the ball back in the transition whether we can make better decisions in that first pass out to set us up then to break out as a team better which hopefully will lead to a lot more chances and Going forward, I'm sure the season settles.

It always does after the first six to eight games.

You always get a slightly different kind of feel after that.

But at the minute, we're definitely in that chaotic phase of everyone's fit, everyone's eager and keen to do well this season.

So how do you try and get maybe rid of that particular challenge for the squad, take that pressure off them a little bit so that they can enjoy playing at home in front of a home crowd?

So although that could be a good physical rest for the players, how do you try and keep up the positive momentum you had in the previous games given it has been an extended break?

obviously it's difficult you're stuck between a rock and a hard place obviously if the games come too thick and fast at the start of the season it can be too much too early but the other side of it is like you pointed out we've had an 11 day break and you've got to also then off the back of what's been a pretty positive start you've got to try and maintain momentum and keep the spirits within the camp up we trained last Thursday had not such a difficult session last Thursday off the back of the two tough games and then We met on Saturday morning and did a lot of work, a lot of physical work, really pushed the lads.

I've never seen so many lads throw up in one training session.

That was a new one for me.

But it shows you what the lads are willing to put in.

And then we've had a good session on Tuesday night speaking towards about the game on Saturday.

Hopefully we can put it into practice again on Saturday like we have in the first two games and come away with positive results to keep the momentum.

On the flip side of that, I mean, what are the sorts of things that maybe you think could be improved upon or added to for this weekend?