Holden: ‘That was for the fans’

What a goal

Holden enthused: “It was an incredible goal – I can see it now…Vyner’s pass to Callum in the pocket who drives and is confident, takes the space, we work it wide, Nahki Wells has the composure to pick a pass on the edge of the box and we play our way in. It’s something we practice a lot in training. Chris Martin deserves that goal because he is one hell of a selfless team player. We know the assists he has got already but as strikers there’ll all be thinking ‘I need my first goal’ but he stayed calm and I’m delighted it’s come for Chris and it’s got us the three points.”

Two wins on the road

“I’m thrilled to be honest with you. It was a real test for the players and all of us this week. We’d had a wiles run but we’d stuck to our way of working, we stayed consistent and confident and you can see the last two performances on the road…seven games in 20 days…was a brilliant end to a run of games.”

Resources

With eight players missing through injury or illness, including Famara Diédhiou who tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday, Holden was pleased to finish the week with maximum points following the midweek success in Huddersfield.

“Resources are stretched,” said Holden, who had Ryley Towler and Opi Ewards on the bench. ”But that’s the job of the football manager. You’ve got to make decisions, you have to keep people together. For example, Ádám Nagy has come in tonight and been exceptional; the players coming off the bench have all contributed; I’m stood in the technical area and I can hear all the subs behind me egging people on; and that’s what it’s all about.”

Derby next up

City now have a two-week international interval before they meet Derby County – exclusively live to watch on Robins TV on Saturday, November 21^st – and Holden said: “Now we go into a break which we didn’t do after the last break so that’s now the test for the players.”

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