Gary O’Neil said his side proved they’ll not allow their season to drift after a battling away draw at Burnley on Tuesday evening.
The Old Gold, who’d lost their last two, fell behind at Turf Moor, but refused to give in and earned a deserved draw with Rayan Ait-Nouri headed home Pablo Sarabia’s free-kick. Both sides had chances to win the game after the interval, which meant O’Neil was satisfied with the result and pleased with the application of his group, which is still missing a number of key players to injury.
On a point away from home
“Probably a fair result on the balance of play. First half took us a while to get to grips with them. I managed to change a few things around at half-time and second half we were much more comfortable and looked really threatening. A good effort from the lads.
“We’re not quite at full strength at this moment and we’re working really hard, still fighting. Cunha back is a big plus and a point away from home which takes us past last year’s tally. Not a bad evening. Tough place to come, good result, and a fighting performance where we created some decent chances.”
On Ait-Nouri’s goal
“It was a fantastic delivery from Pablo. There’s a lot of work to do from there, a free-kick 45 yards from the goal. It doesn’t give us a real goal scoring opportunity. Pablo’s quality and the movement from the set play were excellent.”
“Disappointed we couldn’t find the second one. Rayan has a chance one on one with the goalkeeper similar to his one at Aston Villa. Mario’s header late on looked like it was going in, so lots of positives. The group gave absolutely everything again and we take a positive result back at Molineux on Saturday.”
On big saves from Sa
“He made a really good one with his foot and a couple were offside – they feel like big saves at the time and the flag goes up late which frustrates us. Jose was good again, made some good saves – both goalkeepers made some big saves.”
On a gutsy performance
“A good, dogged, fighting away performance, where we refused to give us. We didn’t look like a team coming towards the end of the season and had achieved safety in the Premier League, we looked like a team hungry to push and fight and keep pushing up the table. Hopefully we can get a win Saturday and make it a decent week for us.”