Ipswich Town manager Paul Hurst said tonight’s 1-0 friendly win against Crawley Town was ‘a step forward’, but says his squad is ‘nowhere near the finished article’.
Following Saturday’s listless 2-0 defeat at Braintree Town, the Blues responded to their boss’ stinging criticism with a much better display as Grant Ward’s early finish sealed a comfortable victory against League Two opposition at the non-league venue of East Grinstead Town.
“That was better tonight,” said Hurst. “We looked quite bright and certainly looked more of a threat than we did at the weekend.
“I saw a lot more positives signs and I think a more positive mindset in terms of playing forwards and running forwards. The pressing was done with a little bit more intent. Like (Luke) Chambers’ positioning in the first half; we were forcing play one way and winning the ball back.
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“The difficulty there, and Tristan (Nydam) was the one prime example, is he ran himself into the ground and looked tired quite quickly. At half-time I just had a chat with him. I love his enthusiasm, I love the press, but you’ve got to be careful, especially against better players, that you don’t get picked off.
“It’s about trying to force mistakes at the right times. But I think the lads are gradually understanding what we are after. It’s a step forward tonight, it’s certainly nowhere near what we want to be, but I wouldn’t expect us to be there yet.”
On the performance of Gwion Edwards, who came on at the break just hours after completing his £700k switch from Peterborough United, Hurst said: “The first time he picks up the ball he goes past his man. The fans had a little gasp. He’s probably had a good half an hour and then blew up, so I won’t give him too much praise yet! But he showed in small bursts exactly why we’ve brought him in. He goes past players very easily and adds competition in that wide area.”
He added: “I still want to bring more players into the football club. We’re certainly nowhere near the finished article in terms of numbers and hopefully quality as well. We’re working tirelessly to try and do that, but at the minute we are not much further forwards in honesty.”
Meanwhile, on the continued absence of Joe Garner and Tom Adeyemi, Hurst explained: “Joe has felt his knee, so he had a little injection in that last Friday. Tom is his Achilles, which is not unusual at this time of the season when the ground is hard.
“In Tom’s case we are perhaps hoping he might train Thursday. Hopefully that’s the case. It’s not set in stone, but that’s what we are looking at.
“I think Joe might be just a little bit longer than that, but hopefully not too much longer. Next week, I would have thought. Like anything he could get in and it suddenly feels better or he might just feel something.
“I’d certainly don’t expect them to be in the treatment room to much longer.”
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