It's a physical game - - The official of Warren Barton

It's a physical game - 21/08/2002

Three games, two wins and one loss – not the best of starts, but not bad either. The latest being a hard won away game at Grimsby. Again this was a very physical game, I think a few of the teams in this league will take a look at us, think we don’t really fancy a battle, and then go out and test us. We’ve got to show them that we’re as prepared as anyone to put our foot in. I’m not advocated anything over the top, but if teams think that they’ve a chance if they can intimidate us, we’ve got to send out a message that says we can mix it and play football.

I hope Steve Livingstone is all right, it’s not nice to see a fellow pro go down like that and stay down. When the neck brace came out, and then they were using apparatus to aid his breathing, it wasn’t nice to see.

It wasn’t the best of games, but getting the three points was always going to be the most important thing. Alan Shearer and Terry McDermott travelled down to see the game, it was a nice to see them and I’m happy they went away having seen a Derby win. I also said hello to Paul Robinson, Robbo was a young lad who played a few first team games under Ruud Gullit at Newcastle. He hasn’t had the best of luck since leaving the club, so I hope it works out for him at Grimsby.