This week Josh Barton of theterras.com spoke to Manager Mark Molesley, ahead of our home pre-season friendly with Exeter City.
Josh Barton: The pre-season schedule continues against Exeter City on Tuesday. How have things been shaping up since the last match against Yeovil Town?
Mark Molesley: The boys have been working hard and their work ethic has been very good. There are probably going to be a few tired bodies but we don’t apologise for that because that’s the pre-season schedule we have put together and we can’t afford to waste a single minute in our preparation. Exeter are a full-time football league side and they missed out on promotion to league 1 at Wembley not too long ago. We realise how much of a test it will be but it is one we look forward to!
JB: You secured the services of Josh Wakefield after the Yeovil game. How well do you know him and how much do you expect him to offer the team?
MM: I know Josh very well and his talents have never been in question for me. He’s well equipped for it and he’s impressed us in pre-season. He’s ready and now it’s up to him to prove himself. We will be working on his fitness throughout this stage in our preparation and I think we have got ourselves a top player.
JB: With Torquay United upcoming on Saturday. Is it now full steam ahead getting ready for the start of the league campaign?
MM: Yes, I think as each week and each training session passes we will start to get an idea of what we are all about. After the Torquay game, we will start to have more of an idea of the tactical and technical side of things. The Exeter and then the Torquay game is still very much about preparation and building the players match fitness. At this stage in pre-season it’s more the attitude, work ethic and performance that matter to us. Once we get to the latter stages of pre-season we are expecting the players to be ready for the start of the all-important league season.
JB: The fixtures came out on Thursday and we start with a home match against St Ives. Do you look into the fixtures or for you is it a case of “we play everyone twice”?
MM: You do get excited about who you are playing and when, for example, the first game, the Christmas games, the bigger games against the challengers. I know it’s an old cliché but we will be taking each game as it comes and preparing for each game when it comes around. We are looking forward to getting started with the Bob Lucas crowd behind us on the 12th August.
JB: 729 people were in attendance for the Yeovil game. The home faithful were getting right behind your team. How much of a difference could the fans make to the team’s chances?
MM: The fans could make an absolutely huge difference. I managed to get a high quality and high calibre of player to this club partly because of its fan base. If our fans continue to get right behind us then that can only be a good thing for us. I think our fans are fantastic and you can see how much this club means to them. We will be doing all we can to make them proud. They will be our 12th man!
MM: Finally, Josh can I also say it’s been great to see how many people are getting back involved with this club whether that be within the community or new people coming through the turnstiles. It’s fantastic to see the partnership we have built with Champion Sports Group and these sort of schemes are the sort of things that drive clubs forward. Our volunteers are fantastic and If we all push in the same direction; this massive non-league club can get to where it should be.
MM: A bit of team news for you, Josh Carmichael will return to the squad tomorrow after being unavailable for the Yeovil game.
