Brogan gutted at Knill Sack

Brogan, who has been under Knill from the youth team at Millmoor through the reserves and into the first team since Christmas told the 'Tiser

"I'm gutted we lost Alan because we got on really well. He brought me into the club as a YTS player and gave me my chance in the first team. I can't thank him enough for giving me that chance, I won't forget him, He's been a massive help in my career."

"I felt sympathy for Alan, We lost our best two players and started the season on minus ten, not many managers have had to cope with that, but it was such a bad run that we went on. It is hard and there are two sides to every story. The board acted and they sacked him." he added.

Looking forward to his own future, Brogan went on to say, "I have to get my head down and focus on my career, Alan won't be around to help me with that. I have to prove myself to everyone - the fans, the board and the new manager."

Stephen spoke about the feeling in the camp about the winless run which cost Knilly his job, "It's horrible when you're on a losting run, it's hard to describe it. You go home after the games and feel depressed and it's hard to lift yourself in training. You try to get the three points in the next match but then you lose again and there's more pressure on the next game."

"For me, as a young lad it's my first season at a professional club and it's horrible coming into a losing atmosphere. I came into the team halfway though our bad run and it carried on."

"When you get that win if lifts you so much and it's a great feeling." Saturday was Brogans first win in the first team.

"The night before the game I was thinking about the game and I had a feeling we would win, It was unbelievable how we lost Alan like we did and then Mark comes in and we get that bit of luck."

"They had goals disallowed from set pieces and we had the luck we haven't had in the last few games. Knilly was in the back of my mind as I was walking off the pitch. I was thinking he'd be sat at home thinking 'typical, they went and won 4-1."

"Speaking from a team's point of view what we needed was a win to turn things around and the Bradford result has hopfully done that. We have to push on now and look to get out of relegation trouble, if we don't there is no point in playing. Port Vale is a winnable game."