A BLUES CRUISE STIRS SMITH
Watertight Stortford set club record
CONFIDENT Steve Smith is still backing his impenetrable Bishop’s Stortford side to gain promotion despite being watching rivals Worthing clinch the Isthmian Premier title.
The Blues have provided strong opposition for the Wings in recent weeks, going a club record 12 matches without conceding a goal after yesterday’s 3-0 win over Potters Bar.
Worthing’s victory at Bowers & Pitsea last Saturday ended the race for top spot but Smith hopes the momentum is with his Stortford side and believes his play-off rivals will have a tough task on their hands to prevent the watertight Blues from marching on into Step 2.
“It’s been an exceptional run,” Smith told The NLP. “Going 11 games without conceding is pretty unusual at this standard of football – or any standard really – but the lads have been fantastic all season.
Confidence
“I think it’s 25 clean sheets for the whole season which is crazy, but I feel disappointed that we’ve let it slip to be honest.
“We’ve drawn too many games and conceded a lot of goals late in games from winning positions. But Worthing have done extremely well and have earned the right. Congratulations to them.
“It’s just about picking yourselves up now and trying to carry this on into the play-offs. It is like preparing for a cup final, it can be a lottery and anything can happen.
“But we go into it full of confidence and it’s going to take something special to beat us. That’s not to say that we can’t get beaten, of course we can, we just have to make sure we are mentally and physically prepared.”
The Blues’ success this season has been on the back of one of the meanest defences anywhere in the country, and should they win their final three matches they would end up amassing 90 points – enough most years to win the title in any division.
Intensity
Smith added: “I’ve said it before, I think I’ve got the best goalkeeper [Jack Giddens] in the league and the two best centre halves in the league.
The full-backs are also strong, but we work as a team and when we lose the ball we get back into shape very quickly, get behind the ball and defend stoutly.
“I’ve got a group of lads who come in every week and work their socks off.
“The intensity they have given me is unbelievable, from day one this year they have run through brick walls every day for me.
“I’m sort of hoping that we concede before the playoffs because to go another three games without conceding and then going into the play-offs on the back of 14 clean sheets, you wonder how long it is going to go on for.”