Cooper recognises the Royalists’ lack of clean sheets is ‘pretty terrible’

Having now played 15 matches of their Combined Counties Premier North Division campaign, Windsor FC find themselves in eighth place and while that is ‘pretty pleasing’ for boss Mark Cooper, he recognises his side’s absence of a clean sheet in the league is ‘pretty terrible’.

On Saturday, the Royalists were able to triumph over home side Wokingham and Emmbrook, 2-1, thanks to Excellence Muhemba’s late winner. They had, however, fallen behind within two minutes when Sam Butcher made a mess of dealing with a free kick and Callum Eagle swooped in.

Sumas’ skipper Liam Eagle turned the ball into his own net shortly after the interval to put Windsor back on level terms and Cooper’s men continued to apply the pressure to secure maximum points in the 81st minute.

“I would say it was a tough encounter,” said Cooper after the match. “Full credit to them, they played their pitch well. It’s very narrow and tight over there and we will certainly play on better pitches this year. They gave us a competitive game.

“It was a physical but not a dirty game. They had a player sent off towards the end of the first half and that enabled us to get on top. Even though they led 1-0 at the break, our boys stuck at the task and kept pushing. Eventually we got the win against a tough side that, I think, performed very well.

“The manager (Elliott Whitehouse) has done really well there. He’s done a very good job at getting the best out of the players. They fight for him, and you can see they are putting huge amounts of effort in. I see a side that can compete week in week out with anyone in the league. I’ll admit, I thought they were terrific.” The victory over the Sumas is the Royalists’ sixth of the season, strengthening their position in the top half of the division while local rivals Ascot United, Burnham, and Holyport remain placed in 10th, 14th, and 18th respectively.

While that may be gratifying for supporters, you get a sense boss Cooper will not be fully satisfied with his side until they survive a whole 90 minutes without conceding this season.

“We are still to keep a clean sheet in the league this year,” he said. “We’ve now gone 15 games without one, which is, in the cold light of day and no matter how you dress it up, pretty terrible in my opinion. Yes, we are eighth and that is pretty pleasing but our main aim going into every game we play is to be competitive. There are some strong sides that we know will be challenging to beat.”