Toolstation/Hellenic Marvin hopeful Keynsham’s youngsters can stay up
MARVIN Brown knows all about digging deep in the face of adversity, resilience which he is confident can help steer Keynsham Town to Toolstation Premier Division safety.
The 39-year-old, who remains Bristol City’s youngest senior debutant at 16 years and 71 days after he came off the bench to face Nottingham Forest at the City Ground in September 1999, has been tasked, along with fellow coaches Ashley Morgan and experienced Spaniard Juan Mascunano, with resurrecting Keynsham’s flagging fortunes.
The Crown Field club, having unexpectedly lost boss John Allen and his successful promotion-winning management team to ailing Mangotsfield United in the summer, responded by entering into an intriguing partnership with Brown and Morgan’s Total Pro Soccer Academy, which runs development centres across the region, including at Almondsbury, Yate and Brislington.
That eyebrow-raising tie-up meant Keynsham were suddenly flooded with bright young talents eager for a leg-up into senior football. It’s an approach the still-new management trio, while candidly acknowledging it’s a “high-risk” strategy, believe can reap handsome dividends for all parties.
Brown’s battlers face another stern test tomorrow when they confront high-flying Mousehole in Cornwall. They do so, too, after suffering a thumping, 6-0, at the hands of their Shepton Mallet guests last Saturday.
“We’d won two games on the spin up to that point, so it was a shame,” said Brown. “It was a poor performance on our part, yet we all understand these things will happen when you have so many young players in your side, and Shepton were excellent under their new manager (Aaron Seviour).
“Despite us being joint bottom of the table with Torpoint, with only three wins under our belt, the Keynsham committee have been brilliant and never put any pressure on us.
“They were suddenly left without an entire playing squad and management team back in the summer. They understand and support our ethos and see the benefits, even if results don’t always go our way.”
Bristol-boy Brown, proclaimed by then-Bristol City coach David Burnside to be a £10 million talent in the making when the aspiring attacker was only 15, continued: “We’re all about playing attractive football, the type spectators enjoy. We’re doing it with talented lads, giving us an average squad age of about 18, who have come out of academy football in the main, including pro clubs like Southampton, Yeovil, Forest Green and, of course, Bristol City and Rovers.
“This is a long-term project and we never get away from it. There’s never been any feeling that we need to add experienced heads to the group to shore things up. We know the risks and rewards; we believe in what we’re doing.
“It’s never going to be easy for them to start with at this level of semi-pro football. But we believe we’re getting stronger and competing better.
“We hope more non-League clubs will take the same approach in order to give bright and ambitious young players their chance to shine in the men’s game.
“I genuinely believe Keynsham Town will win many more matches over the second half of the season and stay up.”
One-time England Schoolboy international striker Brown, whose brother Aaron also performed professionally for Bristol City along with a string of other clubs, including Swindon Town and Lincoln City, can reflect on a playing career which took in Cheltenham Town, under Bobby Gould’s watch, Yeovil Town and Weston-super-Mare.
But it was off the pitch Brown had to face up to his biggest challenge yet.
“I’d been having a routine checkup in June for liver disease when it showed up I had bowel cancer,” he explained. “Thankfully they’d caught it at an early stage, and the following month, July, I had my entire bowel removed. I was lucky it had been spotted because of that other check.
“Of course it was quite worrying, although I’m quite positive anyway; it was more a case in my mind of how my wife and two little girls would cope. I’m not fully mobile yet: I can do a ten-yard pass in the act of coaching, but I can’t kick with any power. It means I’m unable to do any full-on practical demos, which is disappointing. But at least I can still coach and develop young players, which is what I love doing.
“Those memories of my debut with Bristol City at 16, and making 19 appearances for them, have always lived with me. It’s easy for me to want to help other young players try to fulfil their potential.”
Keynsham’s Prem rivals Ashton & Backwell United are just happy to be back on familiar home soil, as they host Sherborne Town tomorrow (12.30pm), then receive Bridgwater United on Friday (7.30pm) before heading back to Cornwall for a date with Torpoint Athletic on Saturday, December 17.
Boss Tony Beecham explained: “We’d reached Cornwall Services last Saturday, only to get the call that our game with Mousehole was off due to a waterlogged pitch. The previous Saturday we’d also been in Cornwall, losing 2-1 at Falmouth.
“There’s been a fair bit of trekking lately with more to come; so we’re glad of two home games now.”
Beecham is adamant his 11thplaced team continue to “punch above our weight.”
“We’re doing all right in a tough league,” he remarked. “Last season, our first back in the Premier Division, was a tough one finishing second from bottom, although we took a lot of teams by surprise later on. Now people are more respectful of us, what we’ve done, and what we’re capable of doing.
“For all that, I feel we’re overachieving. To finish in the top ten this time around would be an excellent achievement.”
Beecham, 12 months into his reign, insisted of the reasons behind Ashton & Backwell’s rise: “We have a good togetherness, helped by the arrival of some good new players. Jack Fillingham (centre-forward) hit the ground running with two goals in our (3-1) win against Millbrook. We also brought in Shea Bennington-Mannings from Larkhall, a young attacking midfielder who perhaps just needs to add a few goals to his otherwise excellent all-round game.
“It’s helping us compete with strong sides, including Falmouth, who we trailed 2-0 to a couple of weeks back because of individual mistakes before pulling a goal back and going on to do everything but equalise, hitting their post and bar.
“We’re kicking off early at 12.30 against Sherborne on Saturday, and then we’ll have a first-ever Friday night game when Bridgwater come to us absolutely flying.
“Sherborne came up to our division all guns blazing last season. We played them a month ago and beat them 3-2 at their place thanks to a 93rd-minute winner. I’m sure they won’t have forgotten that.
“We’ve seen other clubs hold Friday games successfully, and we know they can be a money-spinner with the potential for bigger crowds. Bridgwater usually bring along a good following too, so it should be a cracking occasion,” predicted Beecham, who can welcome Loughborough University student and centre-back Oscar Pearce to his ranks until January.
Second-placed Bridgwater are in Friday action tonight, taking on Hellenic Premier pacesetters Cribbs in a mouthwatering FA Vase third-round tie at Fairfax Park (7.45pm), while Cadbury Heath go to Welton Rovers for a Toolstation top-flight fixture (7.30pm).
Like Cribbs, Clevedon Town are in Vase action tomorrow, when they host Wessex League Division One leaders New Milton Town.
In the Hellenic tomorrow, Chipping Sodbury host Westfields, while Mangotsfield United (at Fairford), Roman Glass St George (at Hereford Lads Club) and Thornbury Town (at Lydney Town), all hit the road.