Bobby, what a win. Right at the death. Is there a more beautiful way to win a match?
It was an enjoyable day for the football club. Not just because of the win, but because of the atmosphere and togetherness. I saw more togetherness that day than any other day since I came here. It felt like what I had been trying to build all came together that day.
To see the smiles on people’s faces, with all the schools and kids there, and the entertaining football we played, that’s something I like to bring to all the clubs that I manage. From my experience, you don’t win anything individually. You achieve things by sticking together.
The kids at the game, according to fans online, were said to have “loved the recognition they got” from you and the boys. Is that level of supporter interaction something that is important to you, and something you speak to the boys about?
While I make clear that the most important thing is to win games, you can always put a smile on people’s faces whilst doing it. You can go out of your way to make sure people enjoy the matches they come to. People are working hard and spending money to come and see us, so if we can give something back, even if it’s just signing autographs or posing for pictures, why not do that?
That’s who we are. I want to make sure we give back. Hopefully we can start to bring in a new generation of fans, too. A football club should always be a community.
The fans also appear to feel that way. I read online that one fan said he had never seen a “community feeling” around the club like this before. For you and the boys to be at the forefront of something special, it must be a nice feeling.
It’s great that everyone is buzzing because we’re winning games, but my aim is for it to be like that after every game, even the ones where we don’t win. Not winning games is disappointing, but it doesn’t change the outcome of where we’re trying to get to. We’re proud of what we’ve achieved so far, and we’re desperate to see a buzzing atmosphere whether we win, lose, or draw.
Going back to the game, we speak a lot about Bobby Wilkinson teams, and how there’s two sides. A side that digs deep and never gives up, and a side that expresses themself. It feels like the lads showed both sides on Saturday.
We definitely saw multiple sides. An aggressive side, a footballing side, and one that doesn’t give up. My players will always have all those sides to them. We’re doing something right, and Saturday had everything. Drama start to finish. I’m very pleased that my changes worked, but the boys deserve all the credit for how hard they’re working.
We did have to make some changes at the back that we weren’t expecting, so it was back to the drawing board this week. The main thing is making sure we’re still hard to beat, as we’re having no trouble scoring a lot of goals.
It seems to me that, recently, we’ve responded to our set-backs really well.
Last season, we faced Hungerford Town. We were 2-0 down before bringing back to make it all-square. We then lost 5-2. That’s the difference. If there’s ever a sign that we now know how not to lose games, there it is. St Albans have lost three more games than us this season, and they’re in the play-offs, so it comes back to those “changing draws into wins” conversations we’ve had. Thankfully, we’re starting to do that. We have a real tough run of games coming up, so we need to make sure we keep picking up points.
Before I ask you about Chelmsford, I’ll touch on Saturday’s heroes. Ezio and Keels are two players who have put in an awful lot of commitment behind the scenes to get themselves ready for games. It must be especially pleasing to see their hard work paying off.
A lot of people don’t see what they do behind-the-scenes to get fit. A lot of travelling to play for the under-23s. They deserve all the plaudits for playing 90 minutes against Dorchester and Farnham, before scoring on Saturday, and still looking fit!
They also deserve credit for their hard work in training, staying behind to do one-on-one sessions. They definitely got their reward on Saturday, but they’re still pushing to play even more.
Their enthusiasm definitely showed on Saturday. Ezio in particular looked like he was playing with a smile on his face.
He wants to be playing every week. He’s proving a point every time he comes on, Keels the exact same. But, it’s important to give the other lads credit. Ezio, Keels, and Elliot haven’t been able to start because the other lads have been playing so well. That’s the sort of competition I love to see.
As a manager, those are the sleepless nights I want. It means we’re doing something right. I don’t like making changes if everyone is playing well, but there comes a time when if someone keeps playing well, they have to start.
Moving onto Chelmsford, we have a tough game ahead of us, but certainly an exciting one between two top sides in good form.
Really exciting. They’re flying this year. They have a fantastic team and they’re very good at home, but we’re going there with no fear. They’ll be working extremely hard on us, because teams are starting to realise how good we are. For us, this is just the next game. We’ve watched them twice since last week, and we’ve done all our preparation on them to give ourselves a chance.
We’ve had to make a few tweaks, as we’ve lost Joe Cook which is a real shame, but now it gives someone else a chance to want to play in this winning team.
It’s also important to remember that this is, in many ways, a different Weymouth side to the one that faced Chelmsford at the start of this season.
We hope so, although it’s important to remember that we’re still going into their backyard. We need to get back to the drawing board after losing three players in our backline. That will need a bit of rebuilding, so that’s something we will try and do. When you play away at Chelmsford, you need to make sure you’re strong at the back. This will be a really tough challenge.
But, what it will now do, as you’ve said, is give someone the chance to come into that backline and show how good they are.
100%. They have the opportunity now to come and show why they should play. People now have to step up.
That’s why I was so pleased with how well Jordon played in the second half last week. Anthony Cheshire has one more game on loan before coming back, which is really pleasing as he’s match fit, and we’re trying to get another defender in. We’re working around the clock to make sure we stay solid at the back.
As always, what has been the key message going into tomorrow’s game?
Outwork the opposition. That is a must. Do your individual jobs and give yourselves a chance of winning. They deserve a lot of credit for winning four on the bounce, but could they do it even better and make it five this week?
Interview by
Jack Webb
