TOUGH AT THE TOP FOR OWLS
CLEETHORPES TOWN are mounting an EVO-STIK South promotion push – but boss Marcus Newell thought their first season at Step 4 was all about dipping in their toe!
The Owls won the Northern Counties East League Premier Division title last season and also reached the FA Vase final.
Newell’s expectation this year was the campaign would be about getting used to life further up the ladder before making a bid for the play-offs next year. Ahead of the weekend they sat fourth and four points off the automatic promotion spot with games in hand.
Newell won’t be letting anyone at the Lincolnshire club get carried away, but he admits he’s pleasantly surprised with how well they’ve fared so far.
“When we came into this league – and I’m still of this opinion now – this first year was to see how we fare and maybe have a push next year,” Newell told The
NLP. “I still stand by that now. “But we obviously had a good start and, as much as you’re pleased by that, it does bring its own pressures because everyone then thinks, ‘We can win this league’. Clearly we can’t.
“But I’m pleased. The squad is getting stronger, it’s looking good and experienced, so I’m quite happy.
“I try to keep it as realistic as I can. Not so much the players, because they are quite level-headed, but it’s the expectations around the club.
Experienced
“I always think it’s how we play. If we can play to our strengths and our maximum we’ve got a chance of beating most sides – we can’t always do that, but we’ll see how we fare.”
Cleethorpes scored 144 goals on their way to 108 points to seal the Step 5 title last season. But Newell says they’ve had to get used to a different way of winning games as part of their Step 4 learning curve.
“No disrespect intended to the Northern Counties East League, but everyone is fit at this level, everybody is organised at this level,” he said. “Every team can play different ways.
“When we first came into the league we were 25 minutes in and we weren’t winning 1-0 or 2-0.
“Then you’re getting to 70 minutes and the lads are getting confused because teams aren’t tiring. So that was the biggest learning curve.
“We had to say, ‘Look, you’re up against sides that are equally as good as you here’.
“We would keep possession for most of the games last year and in the last 20 minutes steamroll them.
“But this year that’s not the case. Possession wise we’re probably getting 50 per cent.
“It’s a bit of a mindset change really to understand it’s different ways of winning games and being more patient.”