Change the key to United form
Former boss said trimming squad sparked turnaround FOOTBALL
TRISTAN Lewis believes a more harmonious Hayes & Yeading United squad has been the key to the club’s turnaround.
Lewis decided to release seven first-team players in one of his last acts as manager before handing over the reins to the returning Garry Haylock last month.
Yado Mambo,bo, Howard Hall, Ben Gerring, Jake Nicholson, Aaron Lennox, Brendan Kiernan and Harry Grant were all shown the door shortly before Haylock’s return as boss.
Good progress has been made in the weeks since his re - ap p o i n t m e n t and Josh Scott fired Haylock’s side to their second victory in his first five games back bk at t theth helm on Saturday at Sutton.
Hayes & Yeading have also kept an impressive four clean sheets during this period to see them move six points clear of Westonsuper-Mare and the Conference South drop zone.
Smiles are firmly back on faces at the Beaconsfield Road club now and Lewis believes trimming down the numbers has played a major role in the revival.
He said: “We’re not getting carried away, we all know it’s going to be hard work, but we’re pleased with the progress. We’re not where we ultimately want to be but things are looking a lot brighter.
“The most important thing we did was get rid of the seven players we let go before Garry came in.
“That was massive for us and we made that decision before he confirmed he’d take the job.
“On Saturday we had players throwing their bodies on the line for the team.
“Some of the players that we let go were good players, no doubt, but we didn’t think they had the right mentality for what we wanted to do.
““Things can change qui quickly, we know that, so we’ll keep our feet on the ground. The boy boys all know he has got out of this league in the past.
“Everyone has a sm smile on their face at the moment and eve everyone wants to work hard for th the team. Staff an and players are all de desperate to work ha hard.
“We weren’t in cr crisis when Garry tk took over b by any means but we all felt the time was right to make the change at the top and it looks like a good decision so far.”
Hayes & Yeading will be hoping for another positive result this weekend when they host Chelmsford City at Maidenhead’s York Road.
There was no game for Northwood at the weekend as their fixture was postponed due to wet weather, however Wayne Carter blasted Uxbridge to victory over Hanwell Town and AFC Hayes were thumped 5-1 by Colliers Wood. HILLINGDON wheelchair tennis duo Andy Lapthorne and Jordanne Whiley both picked up runners-up medals at the UNIQLO Wheelchair Doubles Masters in Mission Viejo, California.
Ickenham hero Whiley partnered her close friend Yui Kamiji but they were unable to make it a hat-trick of women’s doubles titles as they finished behind Dutch pair Jiske Griffioen and Aniek van Koot.
Whiley and Kamiji made the first t“breakthrough in the women’s final to lead 3-1 and then had three set points at 5-4 up.
However, Griffioen and van Koot took the opener on a tie-break. Whiley and Kamiji then battled back from 5-2 down in the second set to make it 5-4, but they could not get back on level terms and Griffioen and van Koot wrapped up a 7-6(4), 6-4 victory.
Whiley said: “I’m not happy with my performance this week.
“I need to get back to work and some good training and make sure I’m as well prepared as possible for the NEC Masters on home soil in London. That’s my next major target and I’ll be all out to end a memorable year in style.”
Despite an early 2-0 lead in the quad final, Eastcote star Lapthorne and his partner Jamie Burdekin dropped the opening set, but came back to win the last four games of the second and force the decider.
However, they could not sustain their effort and repeat their round-robin win over Nick Taylor and David Wagner, who eventually retained the title 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.
Marc McCarroll was sixth for the second successive year, partnering fellow Brit David Phillipson.