TIME FOR HISTORY – DAVIS
CouchCRAIG
DAVIS has called on his Winchester City side to create their own history after already steering them to their highest ever league standing.
The Citizens put themselves on the cusp of a first-ever promotion to Step 3 with an impressive 4-1 victory over third-placed Cirencester Town on Tuesday night.
And Davis believes there is no reason why the Hampshire club can’t achieve that feat with one more concerted effort when they host Bristol Manor Farm in tomorrow afternoon’s Southern Division
One South play-off final.
“They have a chance to make history,” Davis told The NLP.
“The club’s previous highest finish was fifth before then losing in the play-offs so this is already the furthest the club have gone.
“I’m so proud of them, they’ve been outstanding all season. With what they’ve had to contend with – budget and resource wise compared to other clubs – to be where we are is a remarkable achievement.”
Unpredictable
City defied the odds to book a home final showdown in an unpredictable play-off sequence which saw both second and thirdplaced clubs beaten on home turf by fifth and fourth respectively.
“I would normally say that it’s nice to have home advantage but that meant nothing to either of us in the semi-finals,” Davis joked. “Cirencester finished six points above us in the league and beat us home and away, but we were excellent on the day. Their 3G pitch perhaps suited us better and we were clinical when we needed to be.
“It was a very proud moment for us all and our message to the players was to enjoy this very special moment. They thoroughly deserve it.”
While Davis isn’t taking home advantage for granted, he is however confident that an attractive final showdown on paper can produce a record crowd at the Charters Community Stadium.
“We’ve absolutely nothing to lose,” the former Fleet Town and AFC Totton boss added. “We’ve always said that if we can look at ourselves in the mirror and say we have done everything we can then that’s all we can do.
Hopefully it will be enough.
“This is the biggest game in this club’s history – these players will have to be dragged off the pitch at the end.
“Bristol Manor Farm are a free-flowing team who like to play football and we are the top scorers in the league so it should be a good game.
“We’ve been spreading the word and hopefully we can get enough people out of their houses on a Bank Holiday to cheer us on and help make it a special day for all.”