A new start and change of scenery

I can only start today by looking back at Tuesday’s result against Ghana and obviously explaining the disappointment which we all felt after that game. They were a very good team and will probably go on to do very well in the competition, but obviously we were all desperately disappointed by the result. Hopefully we can get our scoring boots on against Uzbekistan now though. That’s the main thing and we want to get a few goals on Friday having not scored in the previous two games.

A few of the lads had been ill earlier in the week and a couple of them couldn’t even travel to the game, so that didn’t help us but I thought we started the game off really well and we were really pleased with the way we started. If we’d have got a goal in that first 15 minutes, who knows what might have happened. In the first ten minutes of the second half as well, we started off brightly, but they scored a good goal to give them that breathing space which put us on the back foot again and it was always going to be hard after that.

I think the fitness told in the end though, and they looked as if they probably could’ve played for another 90 minutes after the final whistle, but we were obviously disappointed in the end. We just want to pick our heads up now and hopefully move on.

Thankfully, I’ve managed to stay away from the sickness that a few of the lads suffered from but my room-mate Adam Clayton got hit by it on Tuesday and that was unfortunate for him as he would've started the game. We don’t know what was the cause, it was thought maybe the swimming pool at the last hotel but we’d all been in there at some stage so it’s strange why some people have got it and others didn’t.

We’ve moved on to a new place now though, and everyone seems to be picking up, so hopefully that will be a good omen for us and bring us a bit of luck. It’s a much nicer place here and we’re all looking forward to playing again on Friday now.

It’s nice to have that change of scenery and I think the move here came at the right time and in all honesty we were ready to move on from the last hotel. All of the lads prefer it here, just by the feel of the place and the facilities and space we now have.

It’s a new start for us now and you never know what might happen in the last game. If we can play well, get a few goals and the results elsewhere go our way, then we could still get through.

That’s relying on other people though which is not what we ideally wanted to do, so all we can concentrate on now is to go out there and hopefully get the right result and see where that takes us.