Head Coach Adrian Heath
On the feeling of getting the win at Vancouver…
“It’s always difficult on the road. People always say about…if you look at this league, predominantly most teams get most of their points at home. We’ve had some good wins on the road. You look at where Dallas are, you look at where [New York] Red Bulls are, we got a draw in Philly. To go to Vancouver and get a result, I think they’ve won nine of their last eleven at home, including Canadian Cup, so it was a big win for us especially going behind and then coming back, showing a lot of resilience, a lot of character. As I said after the game, I thought we thoroughly deserved to win. I thought we created better opportunities most of the evening.”
On the performance from Kemar Lawrence…
“I think the fact that he… the goal was a reward for the fact that for two or three days prior to that he’s hardly been able to eat or drink, couldn’t keep anything down. He wanted to travel and then we he got there I thought the morning of the game I thought he was struggling, but he said, ‘No. I’m going to be fine’. The fact that he came off with like ten minutes to go was because he said he was completely shot, got nothing left in his body. He got a lot of reward for what he did. I think the fact that DJ Taylor puts it in from one side and then the opposite fullback put it in on the other side is something that we’ve had in the past and now it looks like we’re starting to get back to getting our fullbacks deep into the opposing teams half and actually contributing as an attacking force.”
On what he sees from Sporting Kansas City…
“We watched their game [against Montreal]. One of the beauties of playing before them is you get a good chance to watch their game against Montreal, which is a big win for them. Montreal has been particularly good this year at home. But we know what’s coming. Incredibly well organized. Got a great amount of respect for Peter [Vermes] and his staff. Got really good pieces with the likes of Johnny Russell and Roger [Espinoza] got a great goal, although he might be suspended, I don’t know, [Daniel] Salloi. But, hey, it is what it is. They’re going to come and be organized and be competitive. Can we continue in the rich vein of form that we’ve started and if we do, we’re more than a match for anybody.”
On scoring three goals in three consecutive games…
“Taking the opportunities. I went through it over the weekend. How many chances did we have against Cincinnati? How many did we have against LA Galaxy at home? How many did we have against Seattle? You look at them, you add them up, we score one or two goals in them games and we’re probably sitting in second or third place in this league. It’s all ifs and buts, I know, but we’ve created a lot of chances this year. Last three games we’ve taken it and at really important times as well, so more of the same.”
Defender Michael Boxall
On the feeling of getting a comeback win at Vancouver…
“I think when we kind of dug ourselves into a hole, I think the last three results have really put us in a good place. Kind of at the minimum where we should be and obviously the three tough away games and then coming into a home stint it’s time to keep climbing.”
On the energy after the goal by Kemar Lawrence…
“I think for Kemar [Lawrence] personally he… I think the way he was feeling… I mean he’s got such a good attitude around the group. He’s been so good for us since he’s come in and for him to get on the score sheet is massive for us, especially to level the game when we conceded a goal when I could do little bit more to not. So, to get us on level pegging again and then our attacking players for the last twenty minutes really go after, it really set the tone for us and yeah, couldn’t be happier more for Kemar.”
On how scoring three goals in each of the past three games changes the mood of the group…
“I think especially the first two away trips, when you come into halftime two or three up it’s so much better knowing that your strikers are finishing chances and then you can just focus on your job and try to keep the goals out of the net. Although I think we need to tidy a few things up, especially at home. We’ve got some tough teams coming in to visit, so if we can take care of that and the guys keep firing then it should be a fun month.”
On what the focus is for Sporting Kansas City…
“It doesn’t matter where they are on the table. Whenever we play them it’s always pretty tight. I think we just have to keep doing what we’re doing. Keep the boys…put the ball in the front half and keep making runs off Rey [Emanuel Reynoso] and let him do his thing and just, again, tidy things up on the back. We’ve played recently at home pretty well, so we can keep that going. I think we need to keep climbing the table. Three points would be massive.”
