Check out the Gaffer’s thoughts as we welcome the players, staff and supporters of Bodmin Town to Bodieve Park for the return of the Good Friday Derby.
After two curtailed seasons it’s great to have a derby match to look forward to on Good Friday.
We have found Bodmin a tough nut to crack in my time at the club, indeed I’m awaiting my first victory against our nearest of neighbours
Boxing Day was a huge disappointment, we felt we went there with every chance of getting that elusive win but we just didn’t perform at all on the day.
On reflection I wonder if I built things up too much prior to the game, spoke about the importance of victory and we turned up and forgot about the processes that earn us our wins.
We’ve drawn our last 3 home games against St Blazey, Launceston and Liskeard.
On the face of it, 3 points from 9 isn’t a great return, however we are employing a more circumspect style of play in a bid to concede fewer goals. It’s a work in progress but there are clear signs we are going in the right direction. Development isn’t always linear and I think the learning of the last few weeks will stand is in good stead for the future. The points will come further down the line.
I’ve set the lads a little mini target of a top 8 finish. I hope this will focus minds and avoid any end of season cruising. We had loftier ambitions at the start of the season but If we achieve this one, it’ll be a decent campaign against the backdrop of plenty of challenges.
Bodmin are another team who will have fallen short of what they would have wanted but they too can finish top 8 after a decent run of form of late. They have quality throughout the team and we will have to be at our best to have any chance of victory. They seem to have found the happy knack of finding a way to win again.
At the time of writing we have no injury worries other than the long term one to Jacob Smale. Jacob is really important for us and we’ve taken a view to get him right for pre season rather than risk aggravating things in the short term. It’ll be a massive bonus to get him back for sure.
Enjoy the game
Rower