"We've achieved what we wanted to at the start of the season" - Niall Maher's captain's column

It was very disappointing on Saturday, we felt like we threw the game away.
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A bit of game management and we could have been a lot better at seeing the game out, which would have put us in a better position for this weekend.

But there's no excuses, there's another game to come and many things can still change.

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There were mixed emotions at full-time. It's hard for the lads because we've done so well all year and we felt like we had a lot of chances in the game to put it to bed.

Niall Maher. Photo: Marcus BranstonNiall Maher. Photo: Marcus Branston
Niall Maher. Photo: Marcus Branston

But when you're playing a dangerous team with nothing to lose, all you need to do is give them that one opportunity and they took it.

But as a team, we've got to manage the game a lot better, and we're going to have to take that into Stockport on Sunday and then into the play-offs.

Obviously if you finish fourth you have to play that extra game in the play-offs, but we're footballers and we've got to deal with different situations at times.

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Again, things can change this weekend, we still could finish third, but worst case scenario we'll play Chesterfield if we finish fourth, who we know a lot about, but we'll look to do the business on Sunday and hopefully we'll finish as high as we can.

It would still be an amazing achievement if we finish fourth. A lot of people wrote us off at the start of the season and didn't think we'd compete with the teams with the bigger budgets in this league.

But it just shows the team spirit and cohesion we've got within the squad, and how much we work hard for one another, and that's showed this season where it can get you.

But we can't see it as a disappointment if we finish fourth, we've achieved what we wanted to at the start of the season, which was making the play-offs, but we still set our sights higher than that, and that is to get promoted.

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But we've got to take each game as it comes and just deal with it in a professional manner.

I'm in contention for Sunday, that's obviously up to the manager.

I'm back in training and I'm raring to go to get back out there and put the shirt back on.

There's going to be a lot on the line on Sunday, obviously it's out of our hands, but we can go there with flair and enjoy ourselves, and put on a good show.

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Most of the pressure's going to be on Stockport so they're going to be feeling the nerves.

We're just going to go there and try to get a result.

We've always had a great following away from home since I've been here, and hopefully all our fans can have a great day out.

It's up to us to get a good result for them.

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