Page 6 - Yate Town 2020 FC

THOUGHTS FROM THE DUGOUT

Good evening everyone and welcome to The South West Interiors Stadium for our first home Southern
League Premier South match with Wimborne Town. May I extend a warm welcome to James Stokoe,
the Wimborne staff, players, officials and supporters, I hope you have a safe journey to and from Yate
this evening and enjoy the hospitality of our club. May I also welcome all our Yate supporters back to
the club for this first league match and thank you for your support throughout pre-season and to those
that travelled to see our first game away at Harrow Borough on Saturday.
It has been a mixed pre-season where we have concentrated on doing what is right for us in the long
term and we have learned a lot about our players, our staff and our team as a whole. We have played
tough games which has allowed me to see what our players can do within the framework we give them
and we haven’t focused on results. For example, we played two games in consecutive evenings to allow
the players to experience a 90-minute run out at the right time in pre-season but that meant our squad
was spread thin and supported by our wonderful developing youth players, as a result the performances
suffered but in those games we got the much needed physical output we were looking for. We have also
nursed injuries and for example at Redditch where we hoped to be full strength we had to manage a
number of players with the most important aim of getting them fit for this week. Finally, I’ve not known
a pre-season like it for player unavailability. That is not a dig at the players, our players are fully
committed, however, the last 2 years has seen countless weddings,
holidays and breaks that have been paid for pushed back to this time
period and players are obliged to do the things they have
committed to with the people they love. Hopefully all that will be
beginning to be behind us and we can settle in for a long,
successful and full season here at the South West Interiors.
In the summer we have brought in a number of players, I won’t
go into detail here I’d direct you to our player profile page to
have a look through. However, for all the players we have
brought in we have a number of injuries at the moment and
even some players we are yet to see in a Yate shirt will sadly be
some weeks away. At the time of writing (prior to Harrow
Borough so excluding any knocks from the weekend) I already
know it will be some weeks at least before the supporters get
to see the talents of Tyler Ashmead, Luke Hopper, Josh
Allen, Mark Thuo out on the wonderful surface here
at Lodge Road. On that note I’d like to thank
Roger Hawkins and the ground staff team for all
their work on the pitch getting in pristine
condition once again for this visit of
Wimborne Town.
Despite the absentees we are confident in
the squad we have and whilst we know
Wimborne will present us with a big test this
evening we feel we are far better prepared
for a successful season than last year and
cannot wait to show the supporters what we
intend to be about this season. We will try to
be on the front foot every game and go
forward, we will look to play with tempo and
intensity and whilst the vast majority of the
clubs in this league will have greater
resources I know the supporters want to see
the team be bold, confident, play with no fear
and go forward with purpose. There will be
times that we fall down but let’s see what the
season holds and what we can achieve with belief,
togetherness and positivity from each and every
one of us, the players, the staff, committee, directors
and supporters. Let’s hold these values and see where
it takes us this season.
Let’s go to work!
Paul