After falling behind early, James Tavernier, Cyriel Dessers, and Abdallah Sima scored for the Light Blues until Jose Cifuentes’ red card left Gers with 10 men in the second half.
The manager liked his team’s battling performance and feels it should be a benchmark.
The fans can witness a team that fights hard, makes mistakes, but fights together, which is crucial.
Compared to two or three months ago, the squad has made a huge improvement, and I think it should keep it up all season. I insist that everyone works hard for each other in whatever position they play, which they did tonight, and we win deservedly.
It’s hard to win a game with 10 players for 45 minutes, but we had the greatest chances in the second half.
The goal we lost was disappointing, but the reaction was good. We didn’t doubt or stop believing; they kept going and scored three great goals. Actually, we scored four good goals, but one was disallowed. That was unusual because I don’t know why.
When we get a red card, it’s a battle, but the guys survived with good mentality and great work. We organized, transitioned, and had the greatest second-half opportunities.
Clement introduced Ross McCausland and Dujon Sterling for the second half at halftime.Sterling played midfield with John Lundstram after the sending off, and the boss was pleased.
In a position he never plays, he played well. I saw it in training. He works hard to play minutes at any position.
He was crucial at Hearts as a left full-back, and now in the midfield, he can play right full-back and winger. If he keeps pushing, he will receive more minutes in the coming weeks because he deserves it.
A crucial Europa League match against Real Betis on Thursday and the Viaplay Cup final at Hampden on Sunday make for another busy week for the squad. It’s not guaranteed, but if we keep doing what we’ve been doing for the last several weeks, success will come.
We will work hard for short- and long-term success, but football is always a game of luck, whether it comes your way or not. It’s also a factor in decisive games, so you never know, but this team understands what they have to do on the field together in their resilience and how they help each other on the pitch, so long-term success is guaranteed.
