DC: “We’re completely focused on the job in hand.”

It was a short and succinct press conference ahead of the trip to Burslem to face Port Vale this Saturday.

Scunthorpe: DC was delighted with the performance against a good league L1 side that had only made 5 changes (or so) from their Saturday line up whereas City had made 10. He was particularly pleased with the amount of possession and chances created; especially the mental strength to come from behind when a perfectly good goal (Andrade) had been unfairly ruled out. If being hyper critical DC would have liked Imps to have been more defensively compact. It was a good game of football which felt like a home game with more City fans travelling than some clubs got for home gates.

Port Vale: Going there after winning in the cup actually makes the task harder. Port Vale have lots of attacking options allied with physically strong defenders. Throw the large pitch into the equation and City will have to be at their strongest in terms of resolve and resilience. DC would not comment on the pressure that Aspin was coming under from some sections of Vale support but he did highlight the importance of the first goal noting that when they score first Port Vale win the game.

Player loans: Grant Smith’s initial loan had fallen through but there were another couple of options on the table which would hopefully be resolved prior to the weekend. DC wanted to make sure it was the right move for Grant who had made a good start to his league career. He did not envisage anybody else going out on loan as DC wanted to work hard with the group having another Checkatrade match upcoming plus some squad matches planned. Unfortunately, there was no 24hr. recall option on 28-day loans so keeping everyone fit and sharp is paramount.

Squad Mentality: Being top of the league did not alter the attitude of ‘The Better we are the Harder we Work’. The players are focussed on relentlessly accumulating points and the time to get excited about any resulting success will be in May. City are in the fortunate position of having a really good group of characters who are aligned and like-minded. The group do put the team first which is a feature of successful sides. They stay off the moment without getting ahead of themselves. DC spoke about one of the club targets which is to keep goals conceded at less than one per game. It is an 18 man job to keep clean sheets as it is easier to win a game 1 – 0 than say 4 – 3. Imps benefitted from having highly experienced players who are successfully able to take the messages and ideas from the training ground, putting them to good effect on the pitch.

Miscellaneous: DC dismissed any speculation linking him with Brentford or any other Championship sides simply repeating his mindset that he is fully focussing his energy on the job in hand which is Lincoln City and Saturday’s match. DC is looking forward to another good away following who know what they need to do at a large ground.

Writer: hulloutpost

DC: "We're completely focused on the job in hand.":https://t.co/10I6vYBZZe #PVFC #ImpsAsOne #BrentfordFC

— Vital Lincoln City (@VitalLincoln) October 11, 2018