CARDEN: WE’LL FIGHT ALTY ALL THE WAY
PAUL CARDEN has challenged his Warrington Town promotion hopefuls to show what the fuss is all about.
The Wire came into the Easter weekend six points behind EVO-STIK Premier leaders Altrincham with both sides having nine games to play.
Getting up to Step 2 would complete a remarkable campaign for Carden’s side on more than one front, following an impressive run to the FA Trophy’s last 16 after they dumped out National League side Ebbsfleet United.
The former Southport boss wants his team to embrace the challenge – and he says there’s room for improvement yet.
“Up to this point now we’ve had a good season,” Carden told The NLP. “We’ve done well in the FA Trophy, we’ve been in and around the top of the division all season, we’ve won plenty of games – the good thing about us, we know we can still get better.
“I know there’s only nine games left, but what a time to show what we can do. That’s my message to the lads. We need to really show people in this last few weeks of the season what we’re about.
Markers
“We’ve been up there most of the season and we need to start showing why we’ve been up there all season and why we did well in the Trophy. We need to start putting markers down now for those reasons and really push on.
“There’s no reason why we can’t show what we’re about and our qualities. It’s up to the players and myself to produce it and not just talk about it because it’s easy to talk.” Having been involved in plenty of promotion races during his playing career at Chester and Cambridge United, as well as at Luton Town when he was Gary Brabin’s assistant, Carden is looking to put the first honour on his managerial CV. And he knows they can’t afford to take their eye off the task for a minute. “I’ve not always been on the right side of these situations – only at Chester as a player, but that was a long time ago,” he said.
“We need to make sure we pick up enough points between now and the end of the season to at least secure the play-offs. And from then on in, let’s see how many we accumulate and see what’s achievable.
“Before last weekend we’d cut the lead on Alty to a point – two games later it’s back up to six. That’s how quickly your fortune changes.
“We’ve got to keep looking at what we’re doing and make sure we’re focusing on our jobs and not anybody else’s.
“Control the controllables – I’ve said that to the players from day one on things that aren’t even anything to do with position in the league. You’ve got to concentrate on yourself and that’s something I’ve relayed to the lads for many different reasons. “The same applies now.”