Notman: ‘We had to put out a statement’

Stand-in Berwick captain Steven Notman hailed the team’s performance in the win against Arbroath and said it was vital to get some confidence back into the side ahead of Tuesday’s Scottish Cup fifth round replay against Spartans.

The 28-year-old, who played at centre-back in the absence of suspended Jonny Fairbairn, has missed just one game for the ‘Gers all season and said the addition of Colin Cameron in central midfield also benefitted the team’s performance.

He said: “We’ve been on a bit of a low since that last minute goal against Montrose because it killed our momentum a wee bit. We started slowly against Annan and of course the sending off against Elgin so we needed a win today to get some confidence back heading into the game on Tuesday.

“He [Cameron] gave us plenty energy, picked up a lot of second balls and drove us forward. He has great composure and bags of experience as well so that helped us.

“As a team though, we worked really well and every second ball we seemed to get on to. We said at the beginning that every week we have to come into the dressing room after the game and say we absolutely worked our socks off. Today, I felt there was a good bit of bite and we’re all happy with how it went.”

Now, all the focus is on Tuesday night, with the winners of the replay taking a trip to Easter Road to face Notman’s former club Hibs in a match which will be televised by Sky Sports on Sunday, March 8 at 12.45pm.

The midfielder is clearly aware of the magnitude of the game for the club and hopes the ‘Gers can kill off the Lowland League side early on and not let them find a way back into the game.

He said: “We had to put out a statement today. Last week, in the first half we should’ve probably had Spartans killed off and in the second half they varied their game, went long ball and we struggled with that.

“Hopefully we can start quickly again on Tuesday, take our chances and not give them a way back into the game.”