Paul Jewell
"It's going well for us at the moment, but it certainly isn't easy. We've adapted well to the Premiership so far, although I thought in the first twenty-five minutes we did not play particularly well, but once we got the goal, I think we got a foot hold onto the game.
"We created some good chances in the second half, and really we should have won more comfortably than we did.
"We changed one or two things at half time and I felt in the second half we were comfortable. We had two great situations with Jason [Roberts] and Henri [Camara] to put the game to bed, but we didn't and we wondered whether Villa were going to make us pay for it. But we managed to break well, and the second goal was an absolute cracker, it was a quality goal.
"People are saying nice things about us, and we're not really used to that, so we've got to go and perform on the pitch week in and week out. We don't have to prove anybody wrong, we just have to prove to ourselves, and work as hard as we can do and see where it takes us. There's no secret formula!
"Our ambition is to stay in this league. I would like to be able to think as the season goes on we might be able to change that but at the moment our focus is just staying here. That's the goal for the season, and nothings changed.
"We have a good mix of experienced players, with pace, and hunger. You put the three of them together and at the moment we're doing OK.
"We know we have to perform to our optimum nearly every match to get a result and that takes an awful lot out of us, but the players are fit. They're full of desire and determination, and amongst all that and there's some good players as well. We're enjoying ourselves at the moment.
"It's a big test for us every Saturday. Jason's come off injured today, and David Connolly's got a hamstring injury. We've got a decent squad.
"But if we get injuries and suspensions like with Lee McCulloch, whose been a major player for us over the last two or three years, then that allows Alan Mahon to come in and he scores a cracker. That shows you that someone's misfortune is an opportunity for somebody else.
"I think Jason's knocked the top of this thigh when he went down so we'll have to see how he is in the morning."
John Filan
|
"Perhaps some of the other boys thought they should have scored at times, but we're not greedy. To win two nil away at Aston Villa along with a good performance, we're very pleased.
"I had a couple of deflections, I was able to do a job today. Once again our two centre halves played very well today, as did the whole side really. We didn't start too well in the first twenty minutes which is unusual for us as we usually start quite well.
"I think it's a measure of how we've come on as a squad of players that we picked it up after coping with a bit of pressure in the first twenty minutes or so, and I think we deserved the win.
"There's a good confidence in the side and we've come up against different types of opposition and the manager is always keeping our feet on the ground. We just look towards the next game, and work out how we can try and win that.
"I will use the old clique, it doesn't matter where you are in the league table until the end of the season, but I think we deserved the points. We deserved everything, as a group of players, what we have worked for."
David O'Leary
"That was disappointing and frustrating. We've had plenty of possession and created enough chances, but we have nothing to show for it.
"I thought we bossed it in the first-half and then to go down to a freak own-goal was hard for the players to take. They couldn't believe they were a goal down.
"We created the better chances in the first-half, but you have to take the chances when they come and that was a disappointing aspect today.
"In the second-half we had plenty of the ball again, but didn't really have the spark I was looking for. That was a disappointing aspect of it.
"We were looking for so much more today, just as we were in the last home game and the results and performances have not been good enough."