Ahead of tonight’s home game versus Bashley under-23s, we sat down with Matt Harvey, who spoke to us about our squad’s potential, alongside hopes regarding this evening’s clash…
Here’s what he had to say on the following subjects…
On last week’s loss to Fareham Town:
There are things to work on from that game, as there are after any defeat, but given that we had a very young side out there the overall performance wasn’t bad. This game will have been a good experience for our players and hopefully it will stand them in good stead going forward.
On learning curves from last week:
The main things are team chemistry and the importance of getting used to playing with each other in an under-23s setting, which is a big step for some of the players. Some have already been there and done it, and they can help guide the others, but for the rest this is something new.
At this level, particularly given some of their ages, mistakes are to be expected. But, if we can start ironing out those mistakes hopefully we’ll develop players that can really kick on.
On the squad’s potential:
A lot of the players are making the leap from under-18s to under-23s, which is quite a big step, but it’s a step every footballer has to make. Some will take to this level like a duck to water, whereas others will take a year or two to acclimatise, but everyone here has a high ceiling and the longer they’ll spend facing different teams at different grounds the better they’ll be.
On the main goals:
Development remains the main thing. The ultimate goal is to develop at least a few players who are knocking on the door of the first team. Whether we can do that this season we’ll have to wait and see, but we’re hopeful that we can help them climb the ladder a little bit. That could be getting them to a higher level in their Saturday teams, or more regular minutes for the under-23s, if we allow them to progress, wherever that might take them, this will put them in good stead going into next season.
On Bashley:
They will probably be a similar test to Fareham last week. A lot of the players will be older, more experienced and physically bigger than what we are. Of course that will come with its challenges, but I think the boys will rise to these challenges. We don’t go into games worrying too much about the opposition, because we want to develop our own skills. Having said that, we go into every match hoping to win and we want to get as much out of tonight’s game as we can.
On hopes for tonight’s game:
We want to make things as tough for Bashley as possible, and I’m confident that we can do that. We’ve played them once before and, although we did lose 5-1, the scoreline didn’t reflect how well we’d played. We want to give a better account of ourselves today and show what we can do.
