Lipman and Iliev on Newcastle win

Austin Lipman and Deyan Iliev spoke after Monday’s 2-1 win at Newcastle United. Read a full transcript below:

Austin Lipman

on his performance…
I came on in the 65th minute and it’s tough to just settle into a game but you’re just looking for that one chance to maybe get the winner or influence a goal and luckily I did that.

on whether poaching is a strong part of his game…
It’s happened before. That’s part of my game, to come on and influence games when I’m on the bench.

on his loan to Boreham Wood…
It was a good loan. I developed as a person and a player around a men’s dressing room. I scored six or seven goals there. It was different but it’s good for my development and hopefully I can bring it back here like I’ve done tonight.

on playing in the FA Cup for Boreham Wood…
I played in the FA Cup. It’s brilliant to be able to say that and any first-team experience anywhere is what we want. For them to give me the opportunity for that, I’m very grateful.

on the under-21s…
Everyone in there is improving. We’re training really hard and we’re on the training pitch every day trying to develop our technique, develop our match fitness. Again, that only comes from being on the pitch and playing. It’s good.

on his targets for this season…
My target is to get on the pitch more often, score more goals and then everything will follow from there.

Deyan Iliev

on the win…
I think we deserved our win. We played well, showed some good performances on the pitch. I have to say that this is my first game in five months and I’m coming through a really tough injury period. It feels really good to come back playing on the pitch and I think we deserved that win today. We fought for it and it was a good three points for us.

on his injury…
I had a groin injury and then I had a hernia surgery, so I thought I wouldn’t have been out for so long, but it wasn’t that simple. I was out for four months and then it was really complicated. I’m really happy to be back on the pitch and hopefully I will be able to play more.

on making his first start this season…
It felt really good. I can’t describe the feeling but I’m really happy. It feels really good to be back with the guys but I’m getting used to the team.

on his performance…
I think it will take me a bit longer to settle in the team but it’s good to be training again, getting used to everything I had before and hopefully I’ll come back as soon as possible.

on five months out…
It’s a long time, especially if you’re a professional and you’re training every day. You don’t even train, you can’t touch the ball, you just have to wait to recover. I was a bit disappointed and a little bit down but now I’m really happy.

on what he worked on during his injury…
I was working on my upper body strength. I was working on some exercises to keep my strength up but I couldn’t do anything with my legs, any goalkeeping training or running. After the surgery it all went well so I’m happy now.

on his targets…
Hopefully we can finish at the top of the league and then qualify to the first division. Unfortunately we got relegated last year but hopefully this year we’ll come back, we’ll play and then get promoted.

on goalkeeping competition…
Competition is always good because you have to give 100 per cent every day, you have to be focused, you have to show how good you are. If there’s no competition then it wouldn’t be that hard - you don’t have to train that hard. Competition is good for me and it will help me keep my level up so that hopefully I can play one day in the first team.

on going on loan…
It’s good for Vickers and Macey. They’re going on loan, they need that experience and I am looking forward to that one day as well. I just need to adapt to the game again now, get used to everything and then hopefully I will be able to go on loan and get some experience.