You would have been forgiven for thinking there was nothing at stake in this one but it didn't pan out that way as that was a competitive 90 minutes wasn't it?

It was and it is the way we wanted it to be. As I said before the game there are no dead rubbers for us and it was a great opportunity for some of the boys and credit to them as it wasn't an easy night as have thrown a few of them in who haven't played in quite a while. The game was played with great intensity and you could see how much Betis wanted to win it as they threw everything at us and we got the win in the end and that is a great credit to the players and great rewards for them.

Are you proud of not only the work rate and the endeavour but also some of the quality shown by players who have not had a great deal of game time?

Absolutely. I said to them after the game that is why they train hard every day, that is why we push them every day whether they are playing or not so that they are ready when the opportunity comes to be able to show the best of themselves and I think they did that. The great incentive is that you get the reward of winning a European tie against a top-class team that they will always have in their banks and from that perspective I was pleased they got their rewards for their efforts.

Is it pleasing to know the depth of the squad is not where you want it to be but two or three players have shown that they could possibly take that step up if required?

There is no doubt that there is. We have been kind of unlucky that we have got injuries in certain areas of the park where we do not have depth but there are guys who are working hard every day and waiting for their opportunity. I think getting 70-90 minutes into some of the today will be important because we still have seven games between now and the break and w are going to have to call on a lot of our boys and they are going to be ready for it.

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I hate to talk about injuries but what are your impressions of the injuries to Albian Ajeti and Kyogo?

Look, Albian's doesn't look too good and that is a problem for us with Giakoumakis also being out we are very light in that area. I think Kyogo going off wasn't great. I am not really sure the extent of Kyogo's injury but we'll get some information on it in the next day or so and we will go from there.

European football was guaranteed after Christmas, has this given you the appetite for another big tie going into the Europa Conference League?

Our European experiences apart from not qualifying have shown that we have made progress against three very strong teams in our group and we have given a good account of ourselves in all of our games. We have ended up with nine points and we certainly took it so some good quality teams and I think we have learned from that.