Bay's Chalk and Cheese Performance

Another Saturday and I don’t really know where to start. Similar to Three Bridges, down and out early on and suddenly we get a goal out of nothing; to be honest with you we could have been four or five nil down and the goal sparked us. The second goal they conceded was horrendous on their part, but great composure from TT to feed Zak and he does what he does best and he puts it in the net. With the players that we have got you can’t give us chances like that. They will feel very aggrieved that they have not got something out of today’s game, but you can’t give our players chances because they are going to score.

It’s a really tough place to come and I would have taken a point before the game. When we forward plan we see what points we target from different areas, and today would have been one that if we took a point away we would have been happy, it would have kept us ticking over and moved us on but we have surpassed my expectations. At 3-2 there were some scary moments, we sat too deep, too early and we panicked a bit which is a little bit disappointing and an area that we will have to work on, when we are in front we shouldn’t panic, we need to have a bit more composure about us. We were all disappointed at the goals that we conceded, Big G particularly, but he kept us in the game at 3-2 when he made some excellent saves; so good character from him and hopefully it can spur his season on.

Overall, I think our desire to throw bodies on the line and grind it out showed there and you can see the difference between now and September. The difference in team spirit and everything about us is chalk and cheese. We’ve got players in there who want to play for each other, want to play for me and the Club, and its building. I’ve said all along that if we can get through the first couple of months picking up points and gelling, we can finish the season strong.

We are coming to the tough part of the year now and we will gain momentum. We can play a lot better than that, and that’s the beauty of this game, we didn’t play well but we got three points and scored four goals, so we will take a lot from that and it moves us on to Haywards Heath next week. Another big game. I’ve said that tis group of games are going to be pivotal to see what our aspirations can be and what the potential of this group is. Winning away when you are not playing well is a great recipe for success. If you look at this time last year the club had five points and we have 23 now, the Club were in financial difficulties and there were lots going on behind the scenes, but Herne Bay Football Club is a great place to be at the moment. Things are looking up. We need more people through the gates and keep getting behind us.

The support today was the best I’ve seen at the Club. We were 2-0 down and the fans were singing; that’s the mark of good supporters, getting behind the team when their backs are against the wall. I used the supporters in the half-time team talk. I said to the players that the fans still believe in you, and it showed in the second half. So, keep that up and hopefully the boys will keep putting in shifts. That never-say-die attitude can get us out of tight corners when we are not playing well. We move onto Haywards Heath; we’ve not won anything, we’ve not achieved anything, we will just keep building and building. Can we play better next week? I am expecting a better performance and hopefully the boys will show up with that.