Turning St Neots talent into all-round team crucial for play-off race
Ben Ford celebrates his winning goal for St Neots Town against Biggleswade Town on January 17. - Credit: Archant
St Neots Town boss David Batch insists turning good individual players into a better all-round team is crucial in the race for the Southern League Premier Division play-offs.
Batch has launched his Cozy Stadium reign with seven points from a possible nine. His first home match at the helm ended in a dramatic 2-1 victory over Biggleswade Town, who featured former Saints captain Gavin Hoyte in their side last Saturday.
It is a pleasing run of results which had moved St Neots to within two points of the top five places ahead of a scheduled trip to table-topping Weymouth last night (Tuesday).
Batch said: “We undoubtedly have some very good footballers at this club.
“My job is to make them work together as a unit more effectively.
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“Good individuals will ensure that games of football are won, but doing that consistently comes from being a good team.
“Both myself and the chairman just want to see us get better as the season goes on.
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“I’m pleased with the results so far considering I have done very little work with the players on what we are doing in possession of the ball.
“We have had a look at the way we deal with dead balls by making ourselves more solid defensively and more of a threat offensively, but I wouldn’t even say that we have scratched the surface as yet.
“I’m very conscious of not trying to do too much too soon especially as we are picking up results at a time when I’m seeing a lot of inconsistency around the league. The leaders Weymouth have lost games, second-placed Poole have slipped up recently and the table is very tight.”
Batch has no immediate plans to bring in more new faces as he continues to assess the squad inherited from previous boss Gary King. Jack Wilkinson, who followed from AFC Sudbury, and former Cambridge United professional Adam Tann are his only signings to date.
St Neots make a relatively short trip to struggling Histon on Saturday for an all-Cambridgeshire clash.
