Quality control in fine Matt finish

MIDFIELDER Matt Butcher opened his Stanley account with what proved to be the winning goal against AFC Wimbledon and put it down to the increase in quality all around the pitch.

Butcher admitted the squad had been disappointed with their displays in the defeats against Burton Albion and Oxford United. But it was a very different Stanley on display at the weekend.

“We’d been disappointed with the previous couple of games, with the results and how we’d played,” said Butcher. “But both went hand in hand against Wimbledon, we implemented the things we’d been working on during the week and got the three points, so we couldn’t have asked for much more.”

The Reds had to come from behind to secure the win, but Butcher said the Dons’ 18th minute strike did not faze them.

“The way we were playing it was probably against the run of play, we were doing a lot to get the ball into our strikers’ feet and create chances and that’s something we can take confidence from going into the next game. That was a massive positive,” he said. “The quality we had with the ball meant we were able to get a lot of shots in – the overall quality allowed me to get into positions further up the field and pick up shots.

“This month is full of games, Saturdays and Tuesdays, so there is not going to be as much time for training as we have had, so getting that good performance in for run of games means we can take that into the upcoming month and build on Saturday’s performance.

“There are a lot of new players, myself included, so it was always going to take a little bit of time to get used to how people play but I think you can see partnerships building around the park and hopefully that can continue and help us to win games.”