Daniel Bachmann spoke to watfordfc.com after the goalkeeper made a string of impressive stops, including a penalty save, to earn the Hornets a point in a 0-0 draw against Hull City in the Sky Bet Championship.
Read what the club captain had to say below...
It was a difficult game. We knew they were going to have a lot of possession, and I think we dealt fairly well with it, especially second half. The last 20 minutes, there was only one team that was looking to win it in the end.
Even though they had a couple of chances on the break, we were the ones dominating the last 25/30 minutes I’d say. We couldn’t find the finish and didn’t hit the target often enough, but it was another gritty performance.
Our games have been really tough. It is not easy mentally when you have the season we’ve had and every game at the moment is against a team that’s playing for promotion.
We are a little bit in no man’s land, so every credit to the players because it is not easy to match the level when you play against a team that has a promotion chase, and has something heavy to play for week in and week out.
Credit to the players for another great fight, and their willingness to stop the ball going in the net, blocks from everywhere, and tackles, and whatever else, just that clinical edge was missing a bit going forward.
It doesn’t really matter who we play against, but obviously we want to be up there, we want to play for promotion. That was the target this season and it didn’t go to plan. The first six/seven months were very difficult, frustrating, but over the last two months you can see how we can play, with the desire, the willingness, that is a minimum when you wear the shirt that we are wearing.
Now the target is to make the fans proud going into next season and for them to look forward to next season, and for us to prepare as well as we can with Clevs. He has been fantastic from a human being point of view to a sporting point of view, so he has certainly got a big future ahead of himself.
[The penalty] was quite funny, obviously I know Ozzy [Tufan] quite well, he used to play here, it was a bit of a double bluff. He normally goes the other way, so I thought he knows that I know where he is going, I am going that way so it is one of those, there is a bit of luck involved as well in penalties as a goalkeeper.
Certainly it is a factor, but you are not a great goalkeeper just because you save penalties, it’s a lot of luck involved. One thing I will say as well, the stats this season I think in terms of penalties faced, not many have gone in, not from the spot directly.
[Ben] Hamer has saved one, and I must have saved a couple as well now, so that must be quite an interesting stat to have, but like I said the luck was on my side today, that’s it.
I love making saves, I’d like an afternoon where I don’t touch the ball and we win 2-0 every game, but that doesn’t happen, so the other alternative is to have quite a bit to do, do my job, and keep the ball out of the net whenever I can.
I want to keep clean sheets, I want to win games, so it is enjoyable, even though I’d rather concede one and win the game, but it is enjoyable when you are busy as a goalkeeper and you feel like you are not getting beat.
That is the kind of feeling you get as well especially when you save a penalty early on, you kind of feel a bit like you can’t get beat today, but it’s my job at the end of the day so I am glad I have done it well today.
I’ve got my kids and my wife here which is nice, my son will say "daddy why were they singing your name all game?" He doesn’t quite understand, for him I’m just dad, I’m not a footballer, he loves Jake Livermore, and for him, it’s "my dad plays with Jake Livermore!"
It is nice to get a bit of appreciation from the fans and thanks to them for sticking with us because it has been really frustrating for us this season.
So we can only imagine how they feel, on a weekly basis when things aren’t going well, so we can just say thanks to them and hopefully be more successful next year.
