Gavin Macpherson has described the next couple of weeks as the most challenging period of the season as we bid to arrest a worrying slide, put points on the board and stay in the FA Trophy, all despite a well chronicled injury crisis.
At the time of writing ahead of the Dover game, no fewer than 10 players were carrying knocks of some description with some of them ruled out totally and others hoping to play a part in a vital fixture after five bruising defeats in six outings.
None of those absent at Dorking are likely to have recovered in time for our trip to Kent and Gavin has an unenviable juggling act to perform to try and make sure we can put out a competitive team both tomorrow and at home to Salisbury on Tuesday in what is a potential six-pointer.
Then comes the Trophy tie at high-flying Harborough followed by some much-needed midweek respite before we go again with three more games by the end of the month.
It’s a taxing time and such was the length of the treatment table that actual training on Thursday was replaced by an analysis session.
“We’ve played a lot of football in a short space of time and are about to do so again even more,” said Gavin.
“There was no actual physical training as such so we focussed on Thursday on having a good look not only at the opposition but also ourselves. It certainly wasn’t a wasted session but there’s no getting away from the fact that we’ve a lot of players carrying knocks at the moment and the worst thing I can do is put half-fit players on the pitch. We were good with injuries up until a few weeks ago. Now suddenly it’s hit us.”
Although Dover picked up a point at Horsham in midweek, their home form is poor, an extra incentive for us to finally pick up speed, boosted by the re-signed Cian Dillon.
“In some respects it’s a reversal of a year ago where at times we weren’t even in games,” said Gavin as he reviewed recent encounters
“Some of the games we won last seaaon, we clung on whereas this season we’ve been as good if not better than the opposition, with one or two exceptions. The stats show we’ve created more chances in some games. It’s as if we’re a nearly team at the minute but unfortunately that’s not good enough.”
Without the possibility of a revolving door due to squad size, the changes Gavin says must happen are limited in terms of personnel.
“Change can also mean working practises, formation tweaks and moving players into slightly different positions,” Gav explained. “When you take everything into consideration, including carrying so many injuries without the backup some teams have, I’d consider this the most challenging time of the season.”
“In terms of Dover, I believe they have a virtually fully fit squad. We’ve done an extensive briefing on them and it’s for us to be able to pull something out the bag. I 100 percent believe we can. I feel for the supporters who travel every week because we believe we’re so much better than last season.”
AW