GOWLING IS SETTING HIS SIGHTS HIGH
Bulls can be inspired by Shots test
JOSH GOWLING wants his Hereford players to show why they have the ability to move up the Pyramid when they take on Aldershot in the FA Trophy on Saturday.
The Bulls are finding their feet under boss Gowling, who is in his first management role alongside the experience of assistant Steve Burr.
And with the Shots their quarter-final opponents, Gowling says the National League North side will travel to Hampshire determined to put in a strong performance.
“We’re underdogs, let’s be honest,” Gowling said. “But we back ourselves against anyone – if we do our fundamentals right, we think we can give anyone a game. We’ve got a lot of lads who have played at that level or aspire to get to that level so it’s a really good test to see if, one, they can get back there, or two, can they get there? It will be a good a test.”
With Tuesday night’s 2-0 win against Brackley making it nine unbeaten in all competitions – and a sixth sheet in eight games – Gowling feels his side are showing their progression from the start of the season when mistakes were being punished.
“The lads are at a period now where they are confident with each other, they know their strengths and weaknesses as a team,” he added. “The good thing is, we’re finding ways to win.
Headstrong
“Earlier in the season if we’d gone a goal down, we didn’t know what we were going to get. Now we do. We’ve got an excellent equalising rate – 71 per cent at home – so it’s really pleasing.”
Despite the circumstances of the current season,
Gowling, the former Lincoln City and Torquay defender is enjoying his move into management.
As a player he won promotion from the National League with Grimsby Town at Wembley. He’s trying to instil that winning mentality into the club – and he says the confidence is flowing.
“The fact you’re not playing with fans, for everyone, is weird,” he said.
“It’s been strange but we’ve had our processes in place since pre-season. We’ve tried to cut out the noise and just really focus on our gameplay in training rather than turning up at games thinking, ‘Oh we’ve got no fans here, we’re not going to get anyclean one behind us’. We walk out on the pitch and play, we can only affect that.
“The lads have been really headstrong which is really pleasing. We had a period at the start where we were doing well but making mistakes that was costing us games.
“When the fans were allowed in for that little period, that helped us reset and refocus and was a big turning point for us.
“We played Fylde at home, who were top of the league, and it gave the fans a big lift. Then the fans obviously went again but that period refocussed us on what we’re about and helped the lads believe how good they are. That was really important for us.”