I FOUND it very hard to pick one player out for praise after Sunday’s FA Cup draw at Liverpool – because they all defended, as a team, magnificently.

As against Swansea and Stoke, it was clear we set up to try to frustrate another Premier League side, and catch them on the break or get a set piece and do the damage that way.

Unfortunately this time we couldn’t get the ball in the net but take nothing away from the way the lads played.

Rudy Gestede won everything in the air, he battled, he tried to hold it up and knock the ball into areas he thought players would be.

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The five midfielders all worked tremendously hard – they were everywhere – and the lads at the back were solid.

The players coming out of the dressing room afterwards were buzzing and rightly so.

I’m sure that the training ground has been buzzing, too, in the last couple of days and the players should take massive heart from the result.

Now the question they have to answer is, how ambitious are they?

Do they sit back and accept that they are going to put all their efforts into the FA Cup and try to get a trip to Wembley for the semi-finals?

Or do they go for promotion?

I hope the question to that last question is ‘yes’ because there is still a chance of the play-offs.

Of course we are relying on other teams putting in some poor performances but win tonight at home to Bolton and the gap will be down to 11 points. That’s still a big gap and the only way we are going to get it down further is winning games. Draws are no good for us.

But there was absolutely nothing wrong with taking the plaudits after a 0-0 draw with Liverpool.

  • I’ll be running my G8 Soccer School behind Salesbury Memorial Hall between April 30 and March 2 and between April 7 and 10.

For more details visit www.g8soccerschool.co.uk.