Daryl McMahon may have made the big call to swap three players and change formation with 25 minutes left as Fleet trailed Weston-super-Mare but he refused to take the credit. In conversation with BBC Radio Kent’s Charles Webster, the Fleet boss let his players take the plaudits for carrying out their jobs to the letter.
“The players turned the game,” McMahon said. “They went on and turned the game. I don’t think it’s me, they have to actually go out and play on the pitch. Darren scored, Shieldsy set a couple up or got involved with both of them, Dean Rance stemmed the flow of them passing the ball, got in between and made tackles, intercepted stuff and had a real influence on the game. The three boys that went on did really well.
“It was great character and good composure with both the goals: a great finish from Keds off his left foot and then Darren with a header into the corner was a very very good finish.”
And McMahon, like his skipper Danny Kedwell in his post-match interview, highlighted his squad’s character and desire to succeed. “We’ve got so much character in this group this season, even players who didn’t play are big characters: the McLeans, Winfields, Howells who we’ve got now as well, they’ve got good experience and they’re good people which I think is really important as well. You don’t get that reaction from the subs if you don’t have a team that’s together and hungry to be successful.
“I don’t think we had the same mettle and steel. I think you’ve seen when we were 1-0 down, no-one hid. Last year maybe we wouldn’t have [won it]. We showed real character against a team who were actually playing well at the time. It wasn’t just that we were losing 1-0 and we were flowing, we weren’t. We had to go in and change the flow of the game.”
With a quick turnaround for Fleet’s next home game, Bishop’s Stortford on Tuesday, McMahon is determined his side can stay upbeat and focused after the joy of the late win against Weston.
“There’s a lot of happy people in that changing room,” McMahon said. “When you win a game late on, it feels like more than three points because of the situation we were in. Hopefully we can carry that momentum and enthusiasm into Tuesday night and we need the crowd behind us again which they have been all season.”
Listen to the full interview below.
https://soundcloud.com/eufcofficial/daryl-mcmahon-after-wsm
