Michael Flynn column

Archie Christie’s departure came completely out of the blue for all of us.

We had a team meeting this morning with the manager and he went on about different roles at the club. Archie’s role was one of those mentioned.

Then we finish training, come off the pitch and get told that he’s gone. Nobody saw it coming.

They’ve said it’s for ill health and if that’s the case, then we wish him all the best.

To be fair, we haven’t seen much of him round the place in recent weeks but during pre-season he was always around keeping a close eye on the development squad.

Things are happening again off the pitch – but on it, I honestly think that we’re really coming together as a unit.

Then again, we had to because of the number of times we’ve been down to ten men! At least that brings a bit more unity in the side because it brings everyone closer.

As I said after the Swindon game, I was so proud of the rest of the players there for the effort that each and every one of us had put in.

We could all look each other in the eye, knowing that everyone had played their part in a gutsy performance after Andrew got sent off.

Nobody shirked the responsibility. We all gave everything we had and that’s the way it had to be against a very good team.

That type of attitude takes you a long way and the sooner we realise that the better. We’ve got good players here and we’re only going to get better.

It’s a platform which we’ve got to try and build on this weekend. It’s not going to be easy because Cheltenham are on a good run. But we’ve got to step out there and show the same effort and desire from the Swindon game.

We’ve won our last two at home and need to make Valley Parade a bit of a fortress. If we can follow up with another three points against Cheltenham, that would set us up nicely for the two cup ties we’ve got during the week.