21/03/22

Montrose Reaction | The Manager & Captain

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Manager Paul Hartley and captain Mitch Megginson spoke to the media following our cinch League One victory over Montrose.

Mitch Megginson got us off to the perfect start, after teammate Rory McAllister unselfishly nodded a Shay Logan cross back across goal for the skipper to volley into the back of the net from close range.

Shay Logan continued to cause the Montrose defence problems with his accurate crosses from the right, and was the creator of our second goal, when he whipped an inch perfect cross towards the back post for Fraser Fyvie to head past Fleming in the Montrose goal.

Montrose pulled one back before the break, after Dillon’s goal bound header was flicked beyond McKenzie by Johnstone, to give the Gable Endies hope, but a resolute defensive performance in the second half ensured we left Links Park with all three points.

Manager Paul Hartley was pleased to come away from Links Park with the three points, saying: “It was a hard-fought win.

“We had to deal with a lot of aerial balls coming our way, but I thought we defended magnificently for the majority of the game.

“I was disappointed with the goal we lost, but I felt we were comfortable throughout the game, especially the first half.

“We scored two really good goals.

“Shay (Logan) put some really good crosses into the box, and we had great play from Rory (McAllister) to tee up Megginson for the first, and Fyvie coming in as a late runner to score the second.

“At this point of the season we just need to keep winning, we can look at the performance after.

“Overall, it was a terrific three points for us on the road.”

Paul was pleased to see Fraser Fyvie score his 10th goal of the campaign, after making the decision to play the midfielder in a more attacking role this season.

“I see his attacking threat in training every week – he’s got great energy and great timing.”, he said.

“He’s a very clever footballer, so we keep encouraging him to look to get forward more and cause problems in the final third.

The manager was also delighted with the defensive performance shown throughout the match.

“The three centre backs were brilliant in terms of dealing with the long aerial balls.”, he said.

“That is Morgyn Neill’s type of game – he loves winning aerial duels, making challenges and being aggressive.

“Reynolds and Scott (Ross) were always there mopping up behind him, and then our two wing-backs were terrific, both defensively and going forward.

Full focus now turns to next weekend’s clash with second placed Airdrieonians.

Paul said: “It’s a game we are all looking forward to.”

“Hopefully we can take a big support down with us.

“We go there with confidence – we have gone 20 games unbeaten in the league, which is credit to the players.

“We’ll be ready for the challenge.”

Mitch Megginson was also happy come away from a tightly contested encounter with all three points.

The captain said: “Every time we come to Links Park it is a difficult game, we never get an easy 90 minutes, which was the same again on Saturday afternoon.

“We had to dig in, we didn’t play our usual attractive style of football, but it was all about getting the three points.

“Morgyn (Neill) was excellent in the second half.

“When teams go long, we’ve got him there dominating the aerial battles – that is what he loves to do!

“Overall, I thought as a team we defended brilliantly.

“I also thought both our wing-backs were terrific all afternoon.”

Mitch was delighted to find the back of the net for the third week in a row, but was quick to praise his teammates for the part they played in the goal.

“It was a well worked goal, that is the quality we can bring.”, he said.

“It was a great cross into the box from Shay (Logan), Rory (McAllister) has seen me making the run into the six-yard box and knocked it down, putting it on a plate for me to finish the move off.

“It was nice to get on the scoresheet again!”

Looking ahead to next weekend’s trip to the Penny Cars Stadium, Mitch said: “It’s got the makings of a great match.

“Both teams go into the game in really good form.

“All the boys are looking forward to it – It’s the sort of match players love to be involved in.”

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