Windsor build on solid defensive foundations
Cooper wants togetherness and says settled side will continue to improve
Windsor FC now have a solid defensive foundation from which to play out from according to boss Mark Cooper, who watched his side breakdown a disciplined Virginia Water side for a 2-0 victory on Boxing Day.
The Royalists haven’t played a lot of competitive football recently, due to the bad weather and waterlogged pitches.
But it looks like they’re starting to get their act together, and goals from Billy Montague and Luke BrooksSmith,
from the penalty spot, handed them a decisive victory as they look to climb back into the top half of the Hellenic Premier Division.
Windsor currently sit 13th in the standings, but – aside from a few ‘stand out teams’ – Cooper is confident they can finish reasonably high up the table come the end of the campaign. “We want to finish as high as possible,” he said. “But the main aim is to continue working on getting a strong group together. There are a couple of stand out teams but we believe we can be top of that next group of sides. The game against Virginia Water was extremely pleasing. It was a tough game against a very well organised side so we’re delighted to get the three points. We played some great football but it was also a very professional display. A clean sheet was also very pleasing because we’ve not kept enough of those but we’ve now got a very solid foundation to build off and have a much more settled side.”
Prior to the game against Virginia Water, Windsor had used 49 players this season, but the changes to personnel and tactics are starting to come to fruition for the new boss. Tomorrow (Saturday) they visit third from bottom Ardley United. “We seem to do quite well against the sides we’re expected to beat and that’s okay with me,” said Cooper. “But games like this, against teams like Ardley, we’re targeting three points and will be going there looking to win.”