How The Israelites Played A Part In Toon Downfall!

10 January 2011 11:58
Stevenage manager Graham Westley says he rammed home the story of 'David and Goliath' to his players. The little Israelite defeated the giant champion of the Philistines by design, not by chance. Graham Westley : "I don't think you win if you don't expect to win. "We talked beforehand about David and Goliath. We talked about the fact that David had a plan. "David knew what his strengths were. David didn't play Goliath's game. He played his own game. "And we went out there and played our game and got the result by doing that. "I remember talking to the lads and saying one of the big disappointments in my career was going to Highbury with Farnborough and putting on such a weak show. "People said 'But you scored against the Double winners'. Yeah we did but we went down to 10 men, got spanked 5-1 and I didn't feel very good that night. "This time I said to my players I want to work with a group who have got the mentality and the attitude and the desire to take those opportunities. "Don't go in there and listen to all the positives they tell you about these great players at the top of the game. "They are not infallible. "The best thing for us was that they won 5-0 (against West Ham) because there was a lot of talk about how they played. "It's a good thing if a side gets sucked into successes. "Next weekend Chesterfield aren't going to give us the points. "We have to go there, get down off the crest of a wave and go to battle again. If you get too carried away you forget to do your job. "My job is to focus on the job in hand. If I lose control of myself then the others will soon lose control of themselves. But I'll certainly smile and enjoy the victory. "Perhaps this will give the cup an enormous boost. We have all got into a mindset into believing that the Premier League is untouchable. "There hasn't been a big lower league v Premier League victory of this type for a while. "People in the week were asking is the magic of the cup still alive. Well, the magic is alive and results like this prove that." IT WOULD HAVE BEEN READING AT HOME Fourth Round Torquay v Crawley Town/Derby Watford v Brighton Bolton v Wigan Arsenal/Leeds v Huddersfield Fulham v Tottenham Everton v Chelsea Southampton v Manchester United Swansea v Leyton Orient Burnley v Burton Birmingham v Coventry Doncaster/Wolves v Stoke/Cardiff Notts County v Leicester/Manchester City Stevenage v Reading Aston Villa v Blackburn West Ham v Nottingham Forest Sheffield Wednesday v Wycombe/Hereford Ties will be played on the weekend of January 29/30.  

Source: FOOTYMAD