IT was a great win for us on Saturday at Dagenham especially after the loss to Bristol Rovers the previous Tuesday.
That gave Rovers a five-point cushion over us but now we’re four ahead of Dagenham.
If they had beaten us, it would have been a big psychological blow so it was a very important win and a very hard-fought one, too.
On Saturday, we kept faith with Adam Bartlett in goal and it paid off for us.
Adam has been back for eight or so games now and, as we all know, everyone looks at the bad things with goalkeepers because it is such a highlighted position.
He was very disappointed with the goals he conceded against Bristol Rovers.
The first one was very poor, but the second was one of those where we would rather he came for them because, nine times out of 10, Adam would collect those with no problem.
The other side of the argument is that he twice kept us in the game at Burton and has made some excellent saves away from home.
He did especially well at Plymouth and it’s been the case on a number of other occasions.
On Saturday, he repaid us with a couple of good saves, once again.
Before he was injured, he had played more than 100 consecutive games for us and someone like that does not become a bad goalkeeper overnight.
We just need to make sure he gets back to where we know he was when he first came back from his injury.
He has had some fine performances away from home, where we have kept clean sheets.
It’s a case of replicating that come the next home game. Adam is a hard-worker and a good thinker about the game and I’m sure that is what he will do.
He has a big mental barrier to get over and we shall be helping him all the way because he has been a great servant to this club.
Another player we have put some faith in is Yoann Arquin and we are beginning to get the rewards there, too.
You can’t expect someone to come over to this country, slot straight in and make an instant impact.
It was no different with Mathieu Manset — it took him 18 months to really feel comfortable.
Yoann is settling in a lot better now and he is able to have a laugh and a joke in the changing room now because his English is getting a lot better.
Scoring goals and putting performances in like he has is certainly going to attract attention.
He has every attribute to be a very good player and now he has added a few goals to that he could turn out to be a very good find for the club.
Going back to a 4-5-1 formation worked for us on Saturday.
We got early wins from playing that system against Barnet, Bradford and Northampton and they were vital wins for us.
Without a doubt, it suits us better as a group and the players feel more comfortable in that system.
It was good for us to get another win under our belts playing that way and to give the players a bit more freedom in the right areas.
But some things don’t change — you can’t take risks in silly areas that was one thing we have learned from early season.
The players have the opportunity to express themselves a little bit more and that system allows you to do that.
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