Page 4 - Yate Town FC v Weston-super-Mare 050222

THOUGHTS FROM THE DUGOUT

Good Afternoon everyone and welcome to the South West Interiors Stadium for today’s Pitching In
Southern Premier League South match against Weston Super Mare Football Club. May I extend a warm
welcome to Scott Bartlett, the Weston staff, players, officials and supporters to Lodge Road today and
wish you all a safe journey to and from the match. I’d also like to thank our supporters for the great the
support that we have had over recent weeks, it was noticeable the level of support we had on Tuesday
night at Mangos, at times it felt like a home game! Thank you. We will need you to get behind us today
and give us your full support in another big game.

There’s no getting away from it, today is a big game, both clubs lie just outside the top 5 with games
in hand and desires on being in that top 5 at the end of the season. As a club we must take stock.
Heading towards the final third of the season and being in amongst the play-off mix is a huge
achievement, the players that we have at the club have changed the perception of Yate Town at this
level and raised expectation. We are no longer satisfied to merely be playing games at this level, to be
fighting to remain at this level, often we have not even been satisfied with winning if the performance
level has dipped; these feelings highlight the rapid progress that has been made. However, we are
humble enough to know that tougher times could arrive at any turn and we must endeavour to do
everything within our power, to fight, to run, to fulfil our roles to the best of our ability and outwork
everyone else in this league to ensure those tough times or prolonged winless runs never arrive. We
cannot be satisfied with being in 8th with 17 games to go, we must aspire to greater things after 42
games.
Weston are in good form and have been climbing the table
consistently for a month or so, I watched them against Farnborough
recently in a match they controlled for long periods, indeed for the
majority of the game against the league leaders Weston had
possession moving their opposition around and it is clear to see that
we are up against one of the highest quality teams in this division
with some high class players. We have been in great form ourselves
built on hard work and an excellent defensive record which has seen
us concede an average of one goal per game, the third best ratio in
the league so far. At Chesham we conceded very few chances but
were beaten a brilliant goal whilst Beasant made 3 inspired saves as
we slightly edged the goalmouth action. Sadly it wasn’t to be but
we’ve come out on top in similarly tight games lately so we
can’t grumble and will simply continue to reflect on each
game and try to be better each week. Our team is built on
hard work, togetherness and tactical awareness, we’ll
need that in spades today and we’ll need your support in
this big, relatively local, derby.
In team news we are missing two big players for us, Olly
Mehew is unavailable today and Jamie Adams is still in a
heavy cast (which you are not allowed to play in or believe
me he would try) on a couple of broken bones in his hand
sustained against Hartley Wintney, this has seen him miss
the last two and is likely to keep him out for a few more
weeks. In positive news we welcome Liam Angel back to the
squad after the nasty head injury sustained against Harrow
Borough. Come along and get behind the team today because
Weston will no doubt bring a good following, let’s do this together
and see if we can’t get back to winning ways, c’mon you bluebells!
Paul