TURBINES FIRING UP ANOTHER BID
Jimmy’s Sports are back in the title mix
HIGH-FLYING Peterborough Sports are in dreamland – and boss Jimmy Dean is determined to keep the fairytale going.
Sports were battling it out in Step 6 just four years ago but are now in the thick of a Step 3 promotion race.
Dean believes the thumping 6-1 win at Stourbridge last Saturday embodied the team’s mentality that has seen them reach heights the club haven’t reached before.
With three promotions in four years, FA Cup upsets, match day attendances skyrocketing, fans at Sports would be forgiven for getting ahead of themselves.
But that’s not what manager Dean is doing despite how well their season is going in the
BetVictor Southern Premier Central.
“As a club we’re enjoying the ride,” he said. “The aim at the beginning of the season was to stay up, so it’s gone better than any of us could have dreamed.
Adapting
“In Non-League Football it has to be social environment, it can’t just be all about winning and losing, and that’s what we first got from it. We kept adapting, we kept evolving, we kept being more and more professional.
It’s something we all enjoy.
“The personality of the squad is something else. When we were in Step 4, we had a lot of injuries and we were bottom at Christmas, that was two years ago. “We got players back and turned it around and we finished
12th. I knew the character was in the squad then.”
The
2018-19 season at Peterborough
Sports will live long in the memory for the whole club. The NPL Division One South title was accompanied by the club’s FA Cup giant killing of Boston United.
“It was the biggest moment for me and the team,” said Dean.
“We beat Boston United 2-0 in the FA Cup, we were only Step 4, and you think how well they’ve done with their cup run this season. “Every moment has been bigger because of the progression we’ve made, and we don’t want it to level off, we don’t want it to stop, we want to have those moments.
“We want to keep enjoying and we know it will, but last season was a massive achievement.
“But what do you do after that? You can’t just say after three promotions that that’s all we want, you have to take stock in the summer and find ways to improve, adapt and go again.
“Our profile has improved no end this season. When I first came in, our match day attendance was 40 to 50 people, we’re now averaging between 200 and 250, which is a magnificent increase for a club of our size.
“If we finish sixth or seventh this year then we’ll be gutted of course, but it’s been a fantastic season up to this point.”