When you go into a game with your team on the back of two defeats in three games then you have to hope that the work you have put in between matches will pay dividends.<\/p>\n
When you then see your team give away a goal inside the first ten minutes of the game there must be a moment where you wonder whether everything is conspiring against you.<\/p>\n
So when you get to the end of a game where you have been awarded a last minute disputed penalty to win the game then it must be difficult to contain your sheer elation at the fact your team is just a point off the automatic promotion places with two games in hand.<\/p>\n
Cooper though is slightly more refined than, shall we say, some other football managers and he was enjoying the moment whilst giving his side credit for their never give up attitude which is what he believes secured the vital win at Stoke and increased the intensity which seems to be developing in this promotion race.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou always hope another opportunity comes to win the game, you never give up and you keep on going,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s what happened, we got a chance right at the end with the penalty.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you think about how it is, we\u2019ve passed our way up the pitch, we\u2019ve got our wide centre-backs getting in the box to try and create.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not long balls going in and looking for second balls, or forcing the game. It\u2019s us trying to do what we do and, in the end, we did it well.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe played well tonight, even though we had a difficult start to the night.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe conceded a goal that can sometimes happen with the way we play, but we put it behind us, we stuck at how we wanted to play and got back in the game with an excellent goal.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe kept playing, there was an ebb and flow to the game in the second half, but in the last 20 minutes we were the team looking to go on and win it.\u201d<\/p>\n