Football Thornbury hoping Covid crisis does not wreck their promotion challenge again
THORNBURY Town fixture secretary Malcom Carr insists the latest football stoppage will do nothing to dampen their promotion aspirations.
The devoted Mundy Playing Fields administrator, a club member for 41 years, has watched in dismay the way the coronavirus impact is threateing the team’s chances of elevation to the Hellenic League Premier Division for a second successive time.
Last season, only their second in Division One West following a 2018 rise from the Marcliff Gloucestershire County League, Thornbury were firmly in the promotion mix with games in hand when Covid-19 called a premature halt to play in early March. A decision from the top not to implement the pointsper-game strategy deployed by some leagues meant seventhplaced Thorns, along with their high-flying rivals, had no choice but to swallow the verdict.
As it stands, and as the nation absorbs the latest lockdown, Jason Rees’ men loiter with considerable intent second in the table behind only a Malvern Town juggernaut already appearing out of sight at the summit and well on course for a place in next season’s top flight. Nonetheless, if four are to go up this term as was the plan last time, Malvern’s South Gloucestershire rivals, who had won five, drawn three and lost just one of their nine fixtures ahead of the shutdown, are well set, too, for that coveted place in the Prem.
Now Thornbury, as with the rest of their promotion-chasing Division One West compatriots, can only watch, wait and prepare as best they can for the resumption they desperately want.
Town have not played competitively since Stonehouse Town inflicted that one defeat on them - 1-0, on November 3 - and Carr said: “With our area in tier three as we had been until recently, we had been looking at January 23 as a potential return date but of course that is not going to happen now.
“It was always going to be difficult getting games off the ground anyway as the majority of our league rivals were in tier four areas, which of course meant they were unable to host games or travel to tier three clubs.
“Our managers and coaches have done everything they can to keep things going with pre-Christmas training sessions, player fitness tasks and general communication via WhatsApp groups.
“Our reserves went to Patchway Town on December 20 for a friendly which they lost 2-0, but it was still a welcome run-out.
“Everyone here has just been itching to get back to it but it’s now not going to happen for at least six weeks.”
Carr emphasised: “Of course, we’re very keen to get going again before it’s too late. I know the FA is eager to finish the season in order to complete its nationwide leagues restructuring programme that had to be postponed last year.
“Whether it can happen, who can say? We’ve only played nine of our 28 games but if we can restart the middle of February, it’s just about doable.
“That, though, doesn’t take into account the weather and the likelihood the virus will still be causing havoc.”
Of Thornbury’s promotion mission and lingering uncertainty, Carr admitted: “It’s really frustrating although we have reason to feel football isn’t everything after losing two people previously committed to the club to this terrible virus.
“If our league was to stop now, we’d be in the top four on a pointsper-game basis. Last season we’d have finished second behind Malvern if the same calculations had been adopted and gone up.
“It’s been hard on all our committee members, not least Brian Lansdown who has taken on the duties of Covid officer at the club to ensure we complied with all FA and town council safety criteria. He has done so much risk work and assessment to try and ensure we could carry on with the football.
“A lot of other hard work has gone on off the pitch: we’d put in a second 50-seat stand earlier this season and moved our existing one from the corner of the pitch and placed it next to the new one on the halfway line at the far side.
“We’re now looking to get covered accommodation for standing, possibly at the dressing-room side of the ground, and we have planning permission to extend the clubhouse and bar area.
“So we’re certainly striving to meet ground grading criteria if we do have the opportunity to go up.
“It goes without saying we want to get back playing as quickly as possible and to a satisfactory conclusion, even if it means extending the season into June. I would like to think, too, that the Hellenic League might consider scrapping all its cup competitions in order to give the league the best possible chance of finishing.”
Carr observed of the wider club picture: “It’s been a shame for our two other senior sides, in District One and Three, as they’d been going well too, as had our new under-18s in the Bristol Combination League.
“As far as our first team is concerned, we feel we have it in us to push hard for promotion as we have a group of skilful players who have been together a long time in the main, bolstered by a couple of fresh faces.
“As far as I can tell the spirit and desire seems to be there and among the locals too: we had been getting well over 100 people in for our home games, so it shows the support and appetite to do well is there. As housing development continues to increase across Thornbury we want to provide a good standard of football for the community, as we believe we’re more than capable of holding our own in the Premier Division.”
We’ve only played nine of our 28 games but if we can restart the middle of February, it’s just about doable