Paul Cook spoke to 1866+ to give his thoughts on Tuesday night’s home fixture against Colchester United.
Giving his final reflection on the loss to Barnet, he said: “I think enough was said after the game. I think there’s always disappointment when you lose games of football, especially when you’re deemed to be one of the biggest clubs in the division and rightly so.
“Every defeat feels like it’s tough and it is. It’s football today. My messages are consistent, especially to players and to supporters.
“I’ve always been quietly confident that we could make the top three and I think after the last couple of results especially at Crawley and Barnet, Harrogate, we’re giving up too many points now so, whilst it’s still not impossible (and) we’ll certainly keep fighting for everything we can fight for, you’ve got to be taking them, so a tinge of disappointment heading into the game with Colchester.”
On Colchester themselves, he added: “We’re preparing for a very good Colchester team, which is what they are. They’ve had a good season. I’m sure Danny Cowley will probably think they’ve left points out there now.
“They’re certainly a play-off contender, with every right to be that. They’re a very young, hungry, aggressive team who play a good brand of football and attack, so I’m sure it’ll be a good game.”
Lastly, he touched on the supporters.
He said: “Our crowd was super on Saturday. They really were. I think 99 % of managers, first and foremost, we’re supporters. We take great satisfaction in seeing the supporters happy, because when they’re happy, it normally means we’re doing our jobs okay.
“They’ve been brilliant, our fans. You know, as we’ve come from the conference into League Two last year, where we made the play-offs and we want to go another step further this year.
“Just stay with the team. Let’s get these last 12 games over. Let’s make it into the play-offs and let’s try and get to Wembley and be promoted.”
Watch the full interview on the club’s YouTube channel.
