GERRARD JOY FOR HEROES
could not contain his pride as he celebrated qualifying for a second successive season.
Gerrard said: “We had to work extremely hard for it. This is a good team we came up against tonight with really dangerous players and they have a good way of playing.
“They can cause you problems and they caused us a lot of problems in the first half.
“We needed to tweak a few things at half time and we needed to be a little bit more on the front foot.
“We needed to be less passive, more aggressive and we managed to turn it around over the course of the 90 minutes.
“We showed amazing character, amazing bravery and I have got nothing but plaudits for my players.
“I think everyone knows how big it is for financial reasons. I’m sure the board are pleased up there!
“But more importantly it’s for the fans. They want to follow the team near and far and unfortunately the circumstances can’t allow them to do that.
“We need to keep making them proud while they are watching us from home. The important thing is that they stay safe.
“And for the players. These players want to compete against the best and be challenged against the best so the longer we stay in Europe the better.”
Gerrard was also full of praise for match winner Arfield, whose recent red hot form has made him a top team regular despite starting the campaign on the fringes.
The manager said: “When you play like Scott Arfield and perform like he does on a daily basis - when you put in what Scott puts in - you stay in the team.
“Of course, we are going to have to look after him at certain times but Scott is in the team on merit and don’t let anyone tell you any different.
“I thought the winning goal summed up how much better we were in the second half. The cutback from Ryan Kent was sensational, he put it on a plate for Scott. All he had to do was control it into the corner of the net.
“I thought over the course of the 90 minutes it could have been any scoreline because they caused us some problems in the first half.
“We were the better team in the second half and their keeper had to make better saves.
“We could have actually won it more comfortably in the end.”
Gerrard admits his team, still unbeaten in all competitions, has made massive strides over the last two years.
He sai: “We’re a better team than we were.
“We’ve taken huge strides and we’ve got better players, the squad is stronger as is the competition for places.
“The training intensity has improved and they have learned so much over a couple of years. So have we as a staff.
“Our substitutions towards the end were down to learning from previous games in terms of trying to get more energy on the pitch.
“That’s becauseause we know, at this levelel we have to max out.
“It takes a lot out of you and sometimess towards the end of a gameame you can be punished. d.
“There are noo easy games at this level. You have to give credit to the he opposition, because they y were superb b tonight and probably didn’t deserve to lose the game.”