Peter Crook will return a ‘tougher’ player says Boston United teammate Andi Thanoj

Andi Thanoj is backing Peter Crook to return a ‘stronger player’ following Saturday’s play-off defeat.

The Boston United keeper’s second-half fumble presented Altrincham’s Dan Moody the chance to slot home the only goal of the game to secure the Robins’ promotion.

But Thanoj revealed that the squad rallied around the number one in the dressing room after the final whistle.

“Obviously, there’s disappointment,” the midfielder said.

“We had a good 10 minutes in there to ourselves thinking about the game, but after that the boys got around him.

“He’s been good for us this season and it is a mistake, there’s nothing we can do about it now. There’s nothing he can do about it after the game.

“You’ve just got to move on.

“I think he’ll get better for it, mentally tougher for it. Hopefully, he comes back next year a stronger player for it.”

Thanoj had verbally agreed to remain with the club earlier in the season, but a knee injury and the postponement of the campaign put his signing on hold.

Now he is hoping to return next season and have another go at promotion.

“I think the gaffer’s gathered a good bunch and you can see that,” he continued.

“We’ve had a good season and have been unlucky not to get promoted.

“I spoke to the gaffer before the whole coronavirus thing happened and we’re in talks, hopefully it’ll get sorted pretty soon.”

Thanoj reiterated Elliott’s thoughts that a little fine tuning will see the Pilgrims return stronger.

He said: “I don’t think there’s a lot to change.

“We need to bring that extra energy. Different players bring different things, so I think we only need a couple of different players and we’ll be right up there again.”

That knee injury appeared to have ended Thanoj’s season early, but the postpopnement of the campaign allowed him to return to full fitness ahead of the play-off matches.

“I thought it was written in the stars when we got the go-ahead for the play-offs,” he said. “It was there for us. It wasn’t to be but I’m hopeful of us carrying this form on to next season.”