Warnock sees his side on maximum points after two games and said that he thinks there is room for improvement. “We can play better. We weren’t great last Saturday and we weren’t tonight so we have still got a bit of work to do,” he said after they had beaten the Clarets.
“It is very pleasing to get six points and two difficult fixtures out of the way. Tonight there was a great atmosphere, the pitch was like Wembley, and if players cannot enjoy playing football on a night like this then they never will.”
He accepted that our forwards had made it difficult for his defenders adding, “We were ade to work very hard tonight. They had two big lads up front in Akinbiyi and Noel-Williams up against Chris Morgan and Phil Jagielka and the battle between the four of them was superb with no bookings, just good, competitive, old-fashioned football played in a great spirit.
“They threw everything at us late on. Last season we might have lost in that situation but I believe we are mentally stronger this time round.”
Steve Cotterill saw his side try and fight back from a two goal deficit and said, “I thought we were unlucky to go in 2-0 down at half time and we definitely did enough to get something out of the game. I was pleased with our performance and on another day that will be more than good enough to win.
“We were 2-0 down under unfortunate circumstances, but I thought the boys have done well in the second half and we just couldn’t quite get the head of steam that we needed with the stoppages and there wasn’t enough time added on.
“We felt we got into a few good positions and on another day we’ll do better than that and we’ll get the win. We had some good chances and played some football, but we can’t really have any gripes even though our football was a million times better than it was on Saturday We needed a performance after Saturday and as long as we carry on with those performances, it will get us points.
“It is still a new side getting together, but they are very much together and I knew they’d do well in the second half because you could tell at half time and before the game they that they were in a determined mood. If they keep on like that we won’t have any problems as we’ll pick up the wins and move up the table.”