Burchnall happy to see Callum ‘having so much fun’
NOTTS County head coach Ian Burchnall says he didn’t dare substitute Callum Roberts during the Magpies’ 5-0 win against Barnet last Saturday “because he was having so much fun out there”.
Burchnall was delighted to see Roberts and Ruben Rodrigues get on the scoresheet in the National League opener after the pair have struggled with injury problems.
“Cal Roberts looked great,” said Burchnall.
“He looked great in the Solihull (Moors) friendly too and he’s feeling fantastic, and, you know, it’s his first proper game back from such a long period out.
“I’m so happy he got his goal in front of the fans but I didn’t dare bring him off because he was having so much fun out there, I wanted to leave him on.
“I’m really happy Cal got that goal and Ruben did great when he was on.
“He’s obviously had a really kind of stuttered pre-season and we didn’t want to take a risk for more than 65 minutes.
“But lucky for us, the game was pretty much put to bed then and we could bring him off, he’d done his job.”
Burchnall also revealed praise he received from Barnet boss Harry Kewell, the former Magpies manager, during the game.
It was something off the pitch, rather than on the field of play, that prompted the former Liverpool and Leeds United player, who is a man of few words, to share some with his opposite number.
Two words, in fact: “Great touch.” Burchnall, seeing the ball falling into his technical area, flicked it with the outside of a boot towards a Barnet player waiting to take a throw-in on the touchline.
“I don’t have a reputation as a
player, certainly,” he added.
“So I was very happy when I plucked that one out of the air.
“I was a little bit nervous as it was coming down but I just composed myself and even Harry gave me a bit of credit for that one, so I was more than happy.
“I think that was the best touch of the day!
“He said: ‘Great touch.’ Yeah, I think that was it, I’ll take that as a compliment coming from him.”