Ahead of Tuesday night’s home league match versus Stratford, manager Tim Flowers has looked at the opposition and spoken about Adam Jasper’s loan ending. He starts with reflections on Saturday’s win…
Everybody and every team who had a game on Saturday relayed how difficult the conditions were and it was no different for us at Anstey – it was a wet and windy day but welcome to England! I’ve been saying for ages that this is the point where the stretch gets hard – the clocks have gone back and this is where English football gets interesting really; forget the warm and the sunny and everybody having a bottle of water after 15 seconds – which is an embarrassment by the way.
It was a really tough game and I thought our lads were absolutely outstanding, from start to finish. We started well and scored fairly early on and then missed a couple more chances to go further ahead. Then, 20 minutes from half time, it became a real arm wrestle. Anstey are no mugs – they’re a big, strong physical side, they can get about you and in your face and with all due respect, that’s the first time anybody has kept a clean sheet against them this season other than Macclesfield – who are from the level above.
It was a fantastic effort from our players, because we didn’t ship many chances – they had one off the post and that was about it from what I remember. We did a lot better than we did in the first meeting with them this season, we were right at it and that was the message all week – if you want to be flaky, then just forget the FA Trophy this season.
We were terrific, that was wonderful and we move onto Stratford. Obviously we’ve played each other in close proximity – we won 3-2 at their ground and I said to their manager after the game that they possibly deserved a point out the game.
They have said that we underestimated them – under no circumstances will a team of mine underestimate anyone – I can’t believe I’m even hearing that with all due respect to anyone. I don’t know why somebody who became a professional at 16 years old would underestimate anyone in his whole career. I wouldn’t start by underestimating Stratford Town before we went there – I knew they were a good team, they spent heavily in the summer and I listened to all the interviews in the summer and they’re a top five team – and when you look at their squad, they are.
Their results are on the upswing and it’s going to be a really difficult game – I’ve no doubts about that. I must emphasise that nobody is underestimating them whatsoever. I know all about all their players and what they bring to the table – they’re very good. If they beat us, I’ll be magnanimous 100% and I’ll come off and say many congratulations. And if we win, I’ll be magnanimous – it is what it is. Other whispers came out after the Alvechurch game on Saturday and I have every reason to believe they may underestimate us, but we’ll give it a real good go. We’ve looked at Stratford in depth and if we lose, it’ll be my fault – there’s no doubt about that. If we win, the players deserve all the credit.
Adam Jasper’s loan has ended with us and he’s gone to Stratford – he’s a great kid, all the lads liked him and I know he loved it here. He’s a good player – and I know he likes smashing centre halves around him!
And to touch on the big support that we had last time at home – we’ll need all that support again here. If we can get as many in as possible, then the club will move forward very quickly!
