Defender hopeful of retaining place at Gigg Lane
Zander Diamond is pleased to be back in first-team action for the Brewers, and wants to concentrate on maintaining his place as the season reaches its final third.
“The first game back was decent enough. You know what you’re going to get with Cheltenham and the lads made it easier for me to slot back in.Â
“Anyone at Tuesday night’s game could see the quality AFC Bournemouth possessed and they gave us a tough time. We’re back to the bread and butter of the league now and hopefully I can retain that place,” Diamond said.
Although the Brewers came away from AFC Bournemouth with a disappointing result, Diamond says that the squad have moved on and are looking ahead.
“You come away from games and analyse what you could have done better, because as professionals you don’t want to lose goals. It’s your job to prevent them and we’re disappointed with one or two of them. The game’s gone now and we’ve got a good record in the league that we want to maintain,” said Diamond.
The Brewers have been able to sustain another promotion push after last season, and Diamond has hailed the importance of a solid defence in their top-three position.
“Consistency is a big key. We’re picking up more points than we did last season, which gives us a good platform. We aren’t scoring a lot but we aren’t conceding many. We know how important it is to stop them at one end and that’s what we’re aiming to do,” Diamond explained.
Diamond has scored once this season, and is happy to chip in with more goals if he gets the chance.
“You always look at that, but our aim as a defender is to stop them. If we can grab one along the way then so be it but we tend to leave it to the midfielders and strikers, but we’re happy to chip in if we get a chance,” Diamond said.
Looking towards Saturday’s game at Bury, Diamond isn’t paying attention to the league table, and knows the Brewers must work hard for a good result.
“It’s at their ground and the fans will be up for it. Getting the first goal is important but we have to go there, give a good account of ourselves and things like league positions don’t matter. People will see us in second and see Bury down towards the bottom, but that doesn’t matter. The boys are willing to go and hopefully we can get the result,” said Diamond.