IT’S ROVER & OUT FOR DASH
THEY say a week is a long time in football – Scott Dash knows this only too well.
Since last weekend, the newly-departed Kempston Rovers boss has experienced two stinging extremes of the game, ripping up the form book to lead his side to a dramatic Inter-Step play-off victory over Eccleshill United, only to be relieved of his managerial duties just five days later.
“I feel hurt because my task at the start of the season was to keep the club in Step 4 and I did just that,” he told The NLP. “It all feels so raw. I was flying so high and to get this news straight after is an incredibly tough thing to take.
“The play-off win felt like a platform to build on for next season because it really galvanised the atmosphere around the place, unfortunately I guess things just weren’t meant to be.”
Last Saturday, Dash was readying his side for what looked like an intimidating challenge.
The Walnut Boys had ended their regular season on a damaging losing run. Nine defeats in ten games saw them drop to 18th in Southern League Division One Central and face a dreaded play-off against a Step 5 high-flier.
Eccleshill, on the other hand, battled near the summit of the Northern Counties East Premier for the entirety of the campaign and arrived in Bedfordshire for the one-off play-off unbeaten in six.
“The Step 5 sides come in as favourites in these new play-offs because they have the wind in their sails,” added Dash.
“In the week prior there was a bit of work trying to raise the players’ spirits, telling them we can save the season with a big performance.
“With Eccleshill coming down from Bradford we didn’t have too much idea what we were in for. We couldn’t go and see them so had to rely on YouTube videos to get some ideas about their shape.”
Ultimately, after playing out a spirited 2-2 draw, the sides were separated by penalties, with Kempston coming from behind to prevail in the shootout.
Emotions
Victory sparked a sense of relief at Hillgrounds Leisure as players and fans saluted one another.
Dash added: “It’s extraordinary really because we were battling at the bottom all year and the season was one long struggle but then it ended with a feeling like we’d won promotion.
“The afternoon was just one mad mismatch of emotions. Usually when a team win’s a play-off final it’s a culmination of a terrific season – whereas ours had been one filled with a lot of frustration.”
While Dash admits that the announcement of his departure on Thursday hit him hard, he insists he has proved his capabilities and is ready to jump into whatever challenge presents itself next.
“I was up against it from the word go really,” he added. I started on the day the season began so we were chopping and changing the squad all year.
“Many of the players I would have wanted were already signed up to other teams by then, which made things tricky. Our overall league position wasn’t representative of how we played though, we suffered with injuries and inconsistency in the run-in.
“The fact we still managed to turn it round in the play-off shows the spirit we had in the camp, and I just really hope I have the chance to replicate that somewhere else.”
Rovers have appointed ex-Biggleswade Town boss Chris Nunn.