UP FOR THE CUP

On the road to Wembley as we look ahead to Saturday’s FA Cup preliminary round ties

IOWE some apologies to the people who sent me nice messages after our defeat in the promotion final to Weymouth. Losing out on penalties was tough to take. It hurt more than any of the previous defeats my teams have suffered in the final.

My phone had more than 100 calls and texts, with some great words from lots of different people throughout the game. I’m sorry I didn’t get back to them. I was just devastated.

It’s hard to say it after the event, but before a ball was kicked in the play-offs I was banging on about, ‘Why is no extra-time going to be played?’. The final, at the very least, should have had another 30 minutes of open play rather than go straight to penalties.

The stakes were too high. This wasn’t to settle a team progressing to the next round of a cup. It was for promotion to the next level and all the benefits that come with it.

To go straight to penalties was wrong on every level. There should have been extra-time in the final – I know for a fact that five out of six managers in the National League South wanted that. We were asked by the league if we wanted that and we all did.

That should have been taken into consideration. Whether the managers in the National League North wanted the same or not is irrelevant.

It’s a poor way to decide a promotion. The margins are fine enough as it is in finals. With extra-time people are tiring. There is skill involved, subs need to be used wisely, a couple in extra-time could make all the difference.

I took some time to look at myself and look at how it all panned out. I felt we were marginally the better team. It took a good while to get over that pain. But there’s nothing that can be done about it now. We have to dust ourselves down and get ready for the new season.

I’ve kept the majority of the squad. Some have moved on – as happens – with players like Darren McQueen stepping back into full-time football with Dagenham & Redbridge. You like to see that and I wish him and all the other players who have left all the best.

There are always casualties when you’re trying to improve a squad but I think I’ve done just that.

Experience

Goalkeeper Craig King has come in from Oxford City – he was in the England C squad for the game against Wales C that was cancelled when the pandemic broke out.

Connor Essam has also joined us – he’s played 300 games in the National League so he has a lot of experience and has only just turned 28.

Jazzi Barnum-Bob, who has played in the Football League with Newport, Ricky Modeste – a really good performer at National League level and you know what you get from him. Jack Barham scores goals at all levels and Jacob Berkeley-Agyepong, who I was desperate to sign after he did well for us last year, has joined too. Plus David Ijaha, who captained my sides in two play-off finals at Whitehawk and Welling, is also in the building. I think we have a better squad than the season just gone.

We didn’t expect to get in the top seven last season.

To get 50 points in 23 games was an incredible return. But this year the minimum target is a finish in the play-offs.

You can never say you’re going to win a league but we’d like to think we will challenge for promotion. A lot of teams in the division are doing some really good business. They’ve really improved their teams so, as a manager, you’ve always got to be sure you’re not being left behind.

More than ever it’s going to be about squad depth this year. If you think you can get by on 17 players then you’ve got a rude awakening coming. Playing 50 games in 34 weeks is impossible for anyone – only robots can get through that. So there will be injuries, fatigue – it’s going to be about managing a bigger squad to cope with how relentless the season will be.