Leeds United manager Paul Heckingbottom doesn’t think he will have any problems keeping his side motivated for the remainder of the season.
Speaking after his side’s 1-1 draw with Sunderland at the weekend, the former Barnsley gaffer feels his side have plenty to play for.
“I don't think [it is getting harder to motivate the players],” he told the media after the clash with the Black Cats. “You can't question the motivation or things like that. I did highlight though what it is like now at this stage of the season.
“Speaking to lots of people who are at Sunderland, I know for a fact they'll be saying that if they performed like that at the start of the season, they wouldn't be where they are now.
“However, that's what this stage of the season brings, a desperation, no fear, nothing to lose and whether you're playing top or bottom they're all tough games.”
He also said similar things to Alex Neil, with Leeds having created numerous opportunities, without taking them.
“You work on it, you push them, but yeah, you feel helpless in those situations, of course you do,” he continued, discussing what he could do to change things. “It's less frustrating today because I expected, knowing how the game was going to go, when we made the change to make more chances, have more efforts, but also knew that we'd be exposing ourselves more.
“I can’t be sat here saying, if only that went in, if only that went in because Bailey's [Peacock-Farrell] made three real good saves so whilst their keeper was saving and we were hitting the woodwork three times or so we could have just have easily lost the game.”
After the clash with Chris Coleman’s side, he also felt his side could be a little less intricate in their approach: “We’ve got good technical players, which at times is good and at other times we need a different dimension to our game.
“But likewise, and what I always have to remember and what everyone has to remember, is that when one of those moments happens and you show what you’re capable of and we’re 1-0 up, it’s a totally different game and we can maybe play on the counter attack and the technical players have got more space to play in.
“Whilst there’s a game plan, the score of the game and the time in the game always plays an impact as well,” he added.