7:35am Wednesday 16th July 2008
By Gordon Simpson
JAN Poortvliet took huge encouragement from his side's second half display at Salisbury City last night.
Saints ran out 3-0 winners and, although they struggled to impose themselves on a bright home side in the opening 45 minutes, they were dominant after the break.
Saints' head coach was thrilled with the quality of play from the 11 that started the second period.
"I said, second half, go out and play football and make them tired," he said.
"The second half was amazing to see, a lot of crossing balls, a lot of simple play, movement, always thinking forward and the pressure was very good.
"The boys are hungry and everyone is in the mood to play and I'm looking forward to the big game on Friday night (against Celtic).
"Everyone in the second half looked comfortable because they went out and played together.
"In the first half it wasn't as comfortable, but I thought Paul Wotton and Chris Perry did a good job.
"Stern John has come back late because he's been involved with his country over the summer and so has (Marek) Saganowski.
"This is their first week back in training and you can tell."
Poortvliet paid tribute to the efforts of Nick Holmes' Salisbury's team.
"Salisbury were a good side and they worked hard and made it a physical contest," he said.
"I think we tried to match their style and I felt that was a bad choice in the first half."
Poortvliet said the real test of how far his squad is progressing would come against Gordon Strachan's Celtic.
"We will make a game of it and in the end they are all young guys and they are hungry but they also need to experience pressure and Friday's match will offer that," he said.
"It'll be interesting to see what they are capable of in a game like that."
Full match report and reaction: see today's Daily Echo.
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