Mattie Pollock spoke to watfordfc.com after the Hornets drew 0-0 with Sheffield Wednesday in the Sky Bet Championship.
The defender discussed a challenging night at Hillsborough and making his first league start of the season as the Hornets secured a maiden clean sheet in 15 games.
Read what he had to say below...
The lads in there are a little bit frustrated. You want to come out with more than a draw but sometimes if you can’t win it, don’t lose it. It’s a clean sheet. I felt we kind of got drawn into their game a little bit but I thought we were quite solid.
It’s a tough place to come with the atmosphere, the pitch made it tricky. The lads are disappointed but at the end of the day it’s a point, it’s not no points, so we’ve got to push on now and build from it and go again at the weekend.
We’ve been unfortunate not to get more clean sheets, especially when I’ve not been playing, as I think Porty [Ryan Porteous] and Wes [Wesley Hoedt] have been unfortunate, and Cisco [Francisco Sierralta] as well. I think there have been games when we should have had clean sheets and we’ve just come short.
It’s important, especially for me as a defender, to keep a clean sheet. It’s a massive confidence boost, it’s my first start in the league and to keep a clean sheet is a positive thing. As a group, as a collective, it’s something we want to build on.
It's been quite a long journey for me this season to get a chance. Luckily the gaffer has put a bit of faith in me and I just want to repay it to him, and repay it to the lads who have stuck by me this season when it’s been frustrating and tough. I’m loving every minute of playing, I want to play every game, who doesn’t?
It’s been a long journey to get consecutive games here. I’ve been out on two loans so to finally hit two games has been quite nice and long may that continue.
For me the biggest thing is consistency. When I played on Sunday [against Southampton] it was the first time in eight months that I’ve started so just getting back into it again with a close turnaround [was tough].
You have to rest, you have to recover, you’ve got to listen to the physios, the staff. I’m just loving it, I love playing games and to actually be out here and hear the fans and play the game and have the nerves and all that, it’s really nice just to have it.
