Jon McCarthy deflected all praise on to his Chester FC players after they battled back from behind to return winning ways with a 2-1 triumph at Braintree Town .
The injury and suspension-hit Blues were heading for a third straight Vanarama National League defeat after they deservedly trailed at the break to Jack Midson's opener.
However, after the calm and composed McCarthy made a crucial half-time tactical switch, they came out a different side in the second half and notched their first victory of 2017 with a double strike from 11-goal top-scorer James Alabi.
But afterwards the Chester boss, who confirmed Sam Hughes' absence was due to an ankle knock sustained in training, played down his contribution.
What did Jon McCarthy say?
"We were playing a strong and rejuvenated Braintree team. They've got themselves very well organised, they have got a group of strong players, they have some good footballers, and they dominated the first half. They were 4-2-4 and they picked up a lot of second balls and put us under a lot of pressure. But, while not enough, we did feel we had some chances on the break.
"My lads were frustrated at half-time, they had lost a couple of games over Christmas, so we just had to calm everything down and put a slightly different twist on it tactically, to not match them, because they were winning the individual battles when we matched up with them. We went three up top and three in the middle, to make us a little bit different, and give us a chance to get in the game. Then it's the players.
"(Elliott) Durrell, Alabi, who will grab all the headlines and was outstanding, Kane Richards, supported by (Ryan) Lloyd... they gave us a little spark and everybody joined in.
"When you've lost two games you'd take a point so to pick up three was outstanding."
What did the players say?
What did the fans say?
On Twitter..
On our Chester FC Facebook page ...
Richard Jones : "Excellent result!!! Well done Macca and boys!!!!"
Nigel Mayers: "Great 3pts tday well done James Alabi."
Toby Brownbill: "Superb away win. Confidence booster."
On the Deva Chat messageboard...
Churton Blue: "Given back to back defeats and a poor first half tremendous to produce our first league victory of the year from a goal down. All this with Vassell having gone back to Walsall, Hunt being suspended and Hughes, Akintunde, Mahon and Killock being injured. Great credit to the management and to the players, especially James Alabi who is proving his critics wrong."
Shrewd Blue: "A great win this afternoon. First half we were very poor with the midfield being bypassed easily. Second half was a completely different story with everyone having a great game. 2 very well taken goals by Alabi. An excellent 3 points in spite of the miserable sod constantly shouting about how rubbish we are and giving Richards constant abuse."
Eltonblues: "Fantastic 2nd half. Nice touch by McCarthy at end of the game. Shook the hands of every Chester fan on the way out. Asked him what he said at half time. He replied 'we know what we are doing'. Can't argue with that."
