The League is going a hell of a lot better than any of us could ever have dreamed. Even me. At the start of this season, I was not actually thinking about 'just surviving', I fully expected the players I have signed to take us to a nice, comfortable, mid-table position that we can build on next season. At this level of course, it is not always a given that you will be able to build from one season to the next, and indeed quite often you have to fully re-build your side. I was fairly confident though that I could keep the bulk of this squad together long enough for us to get a foothold in the Blue Square Premier. The players though are already exceeding even my wildest expectations.
The Wycombe defeat was mildly disappointing for the players, because we had actually come quite close but in the end we were never really good enough. The FA Cup was over for the season, but we had now another Cup to chase – the FA Trophy and our first match in that was at the final qualifying round, where we would take on Eastbourne Boro, away from home. It is potentially a tough match, Eastbourne are sitting in the middle of the Blue Square South, but it is also a match that, given our current form this season, we should be well capable of winning. My only concern is that, whilst Cup runs are nice, they should not deflect from a League campaign in which we are fast becoming promotion candidates. And whilst mid-table would have been nice, having got ourselves into this position – top of the table, with the half way point fast approaching – it becomes more and more of a disappointment if we in the end fail to reach our now obvious potential.
Any worries I may have had about an adverse reaction to our FA Cup exit, were soon enough swept away though. We had two league matches, both away from home, before our Trophy match and we did enough to win both. Burscough were first up, and a goal in either half from the impressive David Godley were enough to win all three points, even if Craig Callaghan did miss another penalty late on in the match. Craig though is our best spot-kick taker and we will just have to hope that when it comes to the crunch, he won't miss from 12 yards when it actually counts for something. The win though was a relief, and we could now safely put the FA Cup behind for this season and march on to Hyde, to take on a side looking already to be relegation favourites.
Being top of the table and travelling to a side sitting second bottom though, is not always an easy task. We would have to guard against any thoughts this would be a walkover, because despite the gap in terms of points, I would not think there was that much of a real gap in talent. Nevertheless, Hyde have only won one match thus far and it is therefore not out with the bounds of reality for us to think winning there is something we really should be doing. With Gary Prigent approaching full fitness, he finds a place on the bench, whilst Jason Young starts in place of Jon Main who really finds the schedule a bit tough at times, not being a natural athlete. Gary Lunt is still injured, but Steffan Hughes is proving an adequate back up in the midfield.
Jason Young may not be my eldest daughter's favourite player, but I have a feeling that he might well be winning her over. Nine minutes into the game at Hyde, it was indeed Mr Young who sent the ball into the Hyde net and we were ahead. In all truthfulness, we should have had this match wrapped up by half time, but we didn't and as would fate would have it, Hyde were level with fifteen minutes left to play. Steffan Hughes had tried to clear the ball, but ended up in sending it beyond his own keeper. That goal though seemed to wake my players up, and it took only four minutes for Jason Young to be the hero of the hour once more and whilst we may not have driven our alleged superiority home, nevertheless another three well deserved and definitely welcome points that keep us sitting at the top of the table.
With Gary Prigent fit once more, Young was back on the bench for the FA Trophy match at Eastbourne. Prigent is somehow a favourite of Lilly's, but in actual fact his scoring rate leaves a lot to be desired with only four goals in his thirteen league starts. On twenty minutes though of this Cup tie, it was Prigent who was the hero as he sent us in front, but by half time we found ourselves trailing. Matt Smart sent the home side level just after the half hour and then right on half time, he was upended in the area by Dean Twibey and the referee had no choice but to award a penalty. I was furious that that Andy Garret also decided to red card Dean and as Smart thundered the ball home, we were in serious trouble heading up the tunnel. You cannot always expect your players to perform with aplomb, but we had been very poor in that half, and the main culprit was left back Paul Hilland. He has done well for us this season, but on this afternoon it was quite clear he was not himself and so Fraser Logan would replace him for the second half, whilst Steven Buzzeo would go on at right back, at the expense of David Godley.
It would be an uphill struggle now, but all we could do was defend well and try to hit them on the break. With sixty five minutes gone, Prigent was toiling up front on his own, and so off he came to be replaced by Jason. Three minutes later, it was Young who levelled the match and just as it looked as if we might be heading for extra time, up popped Young to score the winner and he is looking like he might well be knocking on the door of a regular start. Against the odds, we had come back to win, and secure a place in the first round proper and although at times I felt the players had let themselves down in the first half, they certainly made up for it in the second. How far we can go in this competition remains to be seen, but the draw has given us a home tie with Blue Square Premier side, Salisbury, who sit 13th in that table. This should be a good indication for us of where were are at the moment, and let us know perhaps what we might need to do to stay up next season. Assuming, that is, we can continue with our fantastic promotion push of this one!
Linear Mode
