“It feels good. I think we keep asking the players to tick boxes. On a side note, we hadn’t won in the red uniform, either. It was a matter of that. We hadn’t beaten Colorado yet in our MLS existence, so as a group, try to find out what we can do and what we’re about. We’re trying to tick a lot of boxes. And for me, it was very, very important that we kept a clean sheet tonight. For Donovan [Ricketts], for the back four to actually try to have something to build off, and we’ve kept challenging them, but to get a win and for that to be the first time this year, it’s another box we can tick. Now, my question is, can we go do something in Colorado?”

“They [Colorado] had some chances, but we had some phenomenal chances we should have capitalized on. [David] Horst and [Hanyer] Mosquera, I thought were first class. I think they challenged for everything, their understanding was fantastic, they played with urgency. They played with a lot of maturity. I think the second half, for me, was definitely not the way we wanted to play. It wasn’t pretty, but we found a way to win, and we’ve kept challenging the group to play with maturity and find a way to win. It was a good second half in many, many ways, and those two, I think, led by example.”

“I’ve got to be respectful of what he’s [Caleb Porter] doing at Akron and it’s very, very important that he focuses on that. We’ll be in contact but it doesn’t need to fill up his schedule. That’s the first thing that needs to be noted. With Caleb, he’s sent DVDs, he’s sent game notes, he’s sent stats from every single game and has been for a little while now. Moving forward, we can have individual player reviews and constant communication will be in effect to look at what we need to move forward. Caleb will not be looking at the system, the style. All that he’ll decide when he comes in. What he’s look at is individual performances of players.”

“I think so, it’s been that way for a while [players being motivated to perform for the new coach]. We share more with the players than we do with the media. We have a great group of players. They’ve known who’s been in town and who’s come to watch games and who were potential candidates. Those individuals have been watching games and that’s been part of the interview process to get the feedback from the individuals that we interviewed to find out what their thoughts were on games, what their thoughts were on individuals. That’s been happening for a while, anyway.”

“I think Dike, in the second division, was a handful. In the first year in MLS, he ruptured his Achilles. I think he showed a great level of commitment to this organization by making a recovery in five months. He came back and was in good shape at the start of the season but really didn’t have a look or a chance to get into the team. When a player doesn’t get a chance to play for the team, or in the squad, they lose a little bit of interest. It was important for me to get Bright out on loan, to get him energized, get him match fit. And when we’ve brought him back in, he’s started to show the old Bright Dike in trainings, which is a handful. He’s not a player you’d tick a box for finesse, but it’s the end result that very, very impressive with Bright Dike. With him, his movement, his honesty, his ability to challenge for things, his ability to run in the channels and to get on the end of things is very, very impressive.”

“We left him [Sal Zizzo] out of the eighteen for several games. But even on the reserve team, he had a tremendous attitude, continued to work hard and he’s been rewarded for it. He’s the made the most of his opportunities and you have to give Sal a huge pat on the back and congratulate him for taking the opportunity. Again, tonight, he was honest. The left back is always going to have a torrid time, they’ve got to look after Sal for 90 minutes. He has the ability to get past people, has the ability to look up and he has been very, very effective. I’m happy for the guy.”

“It was a matter of he [Kris Boyd] is very, very intelligent. For me, it was a different situation from last week. We needed somebody to look after three players, because [Hendry] Thomas was dropping back in, [Jeff] Larentowicz was dropping back in and their two central defenders, they were trying to still use them to play out. And then Bright is sometimes a little bit too honest in overcommitting and allowing them to play out. With Boyd, he’s a very intelligent player and getting him to sit to stop those two from being able to play out was my reasoning for that. And also, he deserves a lot of respect and you have to look after him. With Boyd, they can’t suddenly start to cheat and capitalize and start to push an extra central defender high, because he has the ability to finish and capitalize on opportunities.”

“I think we have to look at the momentum and the confidence. For us, we have to go in, we have to play a little bit better than we did in the second half, but I think we’re capable. For me, it’s another box that as a group and a team we need to tick. We haven’t gone into Colorado and done well, so this is an opportunity for us to show that we are maturing as a team, and that we don’t have to go back to the drawing board, that we can continue to progress as a team, and that’s very, very important for us. That’ll be the main motivation, to say, ‘Can the starting 11 go again, and can we get the job done?’ Because now we’ve got a consistent starting group, with one or two people that can come in. I think the unity tonight, in the way in which we defended in the second half, showed that.”

“It has to a lot [giving up three goals in Colorado in June]. I can’t get in the head of every single player but if that was me, and we conceded three goals in Colorado, it would certainly be a motivating factor to show that we can compete, we can do well in this league and we can do well in Colorado. It’s a box that we need to tick to show that we are maturing and developing as a team and can get the job done on the road?”