Today we welcome the Directors, Manager, players and supporters of Weston-super-Mare to the Mangata Pay UK Stadium. May I wish them a pleasant stay with us and a safe journey home.
Well, after a very good last three months the wheels slightly came off over the last two weeks, as we lost our 14-game unbeaten league and cup run, had two quick defeats in four days, went out of the FA Trophy down at Aldershot 2-0, before beating Hemel Hempstead 4-3 in a league humdinger on Monday night.
When things are going well, experience tells you not to get ahead of yourself but sometimes what you know you should do, and what you actually do, are two very different things.
In truth, we’ve had a nasty little wobble and been given a reminder about what failure might look like. As such it’s now important to take heed of this wobble, look to improve our ranks slightly once again and try to begin another unbeaten run. Hence us getting the late win at an improved Hemel Hempstead on Monday night was vital at it means we are now tentatively “back on the horse” and ready to go again.
Suspensions and injuries can damage you in most seasons. However, those absences do allow players who have been patiently waiting in the wings to stake their claim for a starting spot and that can often be very healthy for the wider squad.
Some squad players will come in, take their chance and never look back and some will come in, do alright, but not really cement their place. Others will come in and not remotely take their chance and fall further down the pecking order – that in simple terms is how football selection works and they, my friends, are the rules of the game.
If I’m honest I expected our pocket rocket Erico Sousa to be a much bigger miss than he has been thus far after his injury against Leyton Orient in the FA Cup, but In truth we’ve coped far better without Erico than I could ever have thought possible.
Josh Hare is another recent casualty, as he picked up a second concussion against Chippenham Town here two weeks ago and it’s an opportunity for someone to stake a claim for his shirt as he won’t be available until next Saturday at the very earliest.
Skipper Jack Payne is another who picked up an injury three weeks ago down at Welling United. Jack is still another two or three weeks away and he has proved to be a far bigger loss than I had imagined.
On top of that we now need to cope with not only these injuries but Chris Bush’s suspension over the next three games and I genuinely hope we will, as our squad has real depth and has been put together to cope with these types of setbacks.
For me it’s now down to Luke, Ricko, the backroom staff and dressing room to stay focused, driven, disciplined and ensure we have enough about us to ride out what has been a very tricky period in our season and stay amongst the title challengers.
On a more positive note, we have not rested on our laurels. We remained proactive in the transfer market and signed an ‘old friend’ of ours in ex-skipper and central defender Callum Reynolds.
The deal, trust me, was a long time in the making, but getting a player of Cal’s experience, character and ability from Bromley where he was playing regularly in the EFL, is a real coup for us and it was great news for Luke, the dressing room, you supporters and the club as a whole, especially at this time of the season.
When we last won promotion into the National League, it was Callum who proudly led us there as Captain and who lifted the Play Off Trophy. When he left us a year later (on very good terms I might add) we were still in the National League. Now, Callum has returned to hopefully play his part in our next promotion, having had lots of play-off and cup experiences elsewhere, including going to Wembley last season and winning promotion to the EFL with Bromley – welcome back, Cal.
Today you’ll all be very happy that my programme notes are not at all lengthy, but I’ll end by saying sometimes in football you can beat yourself up over a few losses and overthink things. You can over analyse the world and sometimes then fail to recognise what your strengths are or give credit to how good your squad actually is, and how good your back-room staff, manager, sporting director and club structures are.
In my opinion, greatness awaits if we can seize the day, and for me we’re possibly now only a player signing, a return from injury for one or two and a return from suspension away from being ready for the run in. Trust me, one bad week must not be allowed to define our season and if we keep united, driven, and keep our focus on good habits, then good things will follow.
Anyway, back to today, we will meet a very good Weston-Super-Mare team, who we know will work hard, be well organised and will be very difficult to beat.
So, whoever you support, let’s hope for an open, attacking game and may the best team win.
Take care,
Danny.
