We can follow our rivals and go up too – Herbert
● RUNCORN TOWN boss Chris Herbert is adamant his side are good enough to win the Hallmark Security Premier Division next season after narrowly missing out on promotion.
Widnes FC’s scintillating run of 23 victories in their final 25 games of the campaign ensured they beat Town to the second automatic promotion spot, while cross-town rivals Runcorn Linnets lifted the title.
“To get 93 points [Widnes finished on 96] and not get promoted in two places shows how good [Widnes and Linnets have] done, that’s what we’re gutted about,” Herbert said.
“But we’ve only got ourselves to blame. We had a bad run in the winter when the games were off because the amount of space in between games made it hard for us to perform. But there aren’t really any excuses because the teams who have been promoted deserve it.”
Town ended the season with a 1-0 victory at their arch-rivals Linnets on Bank Holiday Monday – avenging the harrowing 5-0 home defeat on Boxing Day – but Herbert conceded the champions deserved their crown.
Herbert said: “It was a good way to end the season by beating them, but Linnets are deserved winners. They’ve been the most consistent team all season and Widnes have been on an unbelievable run. I don’t think their record will be broken, it’s brilliant how they’ve done it. Hats off to both teams.”
After missing out on automatic promotion by such a small margin, Herbert knows that his side are likely to be heavy favourites for a title push next season.
The manager is confident that he has the quality at his disposal to launch an assault on the top two – but also admitted recruitment will be necessary during the summer months.
“If you want to win things you’ve got to do well from the start. You have to set your standards early,” he said.
“We want to keep our lads and add one or two quality players who are going to be able to take us to the next level again. I feel like we’ve got enough to win this league. We’ve got to the point where we’re really strong and I think we’ve proved it recently. We had an off day against Ashton [the only game out of the final 13 fixtures that Town lost], but apart from that we’ve been very strong and dominant in games. We’ll need a good pre-season but everyone has agreed to stay and we’ll have a rest and then go again.”