ANDY RITCHIE wants his team and Town’s fans to reproduce the “pride and passion” shown at Chelsea for the remainder of the League I campaign.
The Galpharm side play the first of their 16 remaining matches at home to Millwall tomorrow.
And the boss, who while his side are 16th, refuses to rule out a play-off push, wants them to take inspiration from their battling show in Saturday’s 3-1 FA Cup defeat by the holders.
Town’s hopes of making the quarter-finals for the first time since 1972 were dashed by two goals from Frank Lampard and another from Salomon Kalou.
But the manager and 6,000-plus supporters alike will long remember the moment Michael Collins stunned home fans in a 41,324 crowd by levelling in first-half stoppage time.
“We scored at a really good time. It was a great ball through by James Berrett and a lovely composed finish by Michael,” said Ritchie of the midfielder’s third goal of the season.
“The goal gave us a real lift for the second half, and we came out, competed really well, and it’s fair to say we annoyed them!
“I think we were a little bit in awe of them in the first half.
“At the break I told the lads we needed to get more tackles in, which we did.
“We tinkered with the formation a little, and I thought we looked more positive and held the ball better in the second half.
“There’s no denying Chelsea’s class and quality, but we had our moments and caused one of the best sides in Europe real problems.
“There were a lot of disappointed players in our dressing room, because we wanted to get a result, but they shouldn’t be downhearted.
“Each and every player should have their heads held high, and we should take inspiration from this performance.”
Ritchie made a point of remaining on the pitch after the players had left to applaud the Town supporters and explained: “They were brilliant.
“Like the players, they showed pride and passion, and it would be great if we could all continue this way.”
Ritchie was today monitoring the fitness of skipper Jon Worthington, whose hamstring strain kept him out at Stamford Bridge.
