NON-LEAGUE FOOTBALL: Boss Matt Clements is confident St Neots Town will be winning games sooner rather than later
Liam McDevitt leaps high during his St Neots debut. Picture: CLAIRE HOWES - Credit: Archant
St Neots Town boss Matt Clements insists a first win of the Southern League Premier Division season is not far away.
St Neots Town manager Matt Clements has called for improvement. Picture: CLAIRE HOWES - Credit: Archant
Saints have collected two successive draws after losing their opening fixture of the new campaign – the latest 1-1 deadlock coming at Stratford last Saturday.
New recruit Dion Sembie-Ferris equalised for Clements’ men ahead midway through the first half after they had fallen behind early on.
Saints skipper Micky Hyem and Taylor Parr both saw headers kept out by the woodwork on a day when Clements was able to pull out plenty of positives from his side’s showing.
He said: “I can understand if people are disappointed that we only have two points from three games, but I’m not concerned.
“We know it should be five points after missing a lot of chances against Farnborough on the opening day, but the positive to come out of that game was the fact we’re creating stacks of opportunities.
“Since then we showed great resilience to get a draw at Hitchin and we followed that up with a deserved draw at Stratford.
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“Tightening up defensively was a must after conceding far too many goals last season and we’re well on the way to doing that.
“The challenge is to make sure we achieve that target while still scoring plenty of goals of ourselves. Dion coming in will certainly help in that respect.
“We have the base, we have the creativity, and we now just need to be a bit more clinical.
“We’ve been competitive in every game and I’m confident we’ll get a win sooner rather than later.”
Sembie-Ferris was joined by another debutant as summer signing Liam McDevitt made a first appearance of the campaign at Stratford in central defence.
Wideman Kyran Wiltshire was also handed a first start after impressing as a substitute.
Saints now face a tough Bank Holiday programme with a home clash against newly-promoted Hereford on Saturday being followed by a Monday trip to Kettering, who have enjoyed a perfect start to the campaign with three successive wins.
Saints have been handed a derby test in the first qualifying round of the FA Cup. They will go to Cambridge City, who were relegated from the Premier Division last season. The game is expected to take place next Friday (September 1).
* Saints’ reserve side suffered their first defeat in Division One of the Spartan South Midlands League last Saturday. They went down 4-1 to Harefield United at the Premier Plus Stadium despite hitting the front through Andre Williams.
