Admirals Up For Premier Challenge
Tue 19th August 2014 | Nelson | By Ian Templeman
Despite a mixed set of results so far, Nelson manager Mark Fell believes his squad are more than equipped to make their mark in the Premier Division this season.
The Admirals stepped up a level as First Division champions last season, but Mark says that as well as being keen to keep continuity, he didn’t feel there was a need to make wholesale changes to his squad over the summer.
“My view was that the squad we had was good enough to make us competitive in this league”, he said. “When you look at the players we have, quite a few of them we were lucky enough to get last season, when they were good enough to be playing a couple of levels higher.
“So we have just picked a few players up to add to what we had. We’ve got Gareth Peet, who I was really impressed with when I saw him at Atherton Colls, and we have picked up a couple of lads from local football who came on trial in pre-season and did really well.
“We’ve also had Robert Grimes missing through injury, and he has been a loss in midfield. With the personnel we have we have been playing 4-4-2, but when we have everyone back, we’ve got options to look at other formations.
“We will change and adapt things as and when, we have the personnel to do that. When you play good sides you need to make sure you retain the ball higher up the pitch, for example, but it is sometimes more about picking the right system rather than the right people, depending on who you are playing”.
Injuries affected Mark’s preparations for last weekend’s FA Cup tie against last season’s FA Vase finalists West Auckland Town, but despite some key players missing, his side turned in an excellent performance, and were unlucky on the day not to get something from the game.
“The boys were disappointed to lose to West Auckland, and that’s good, but we have to take some positives out of that game”, he said. “They (West Auckland) were a big, strong team who I think will do well again in the FA competitions, and in the second half we hit the woodwork twice and threw the kitchen sink at them.
“I thought we deserved at least a draw, and on another day it could have gone for us, but that’s football”.
Returning to league matters for now, Mark is now focussing on getting up to speed with the new division and the teams his side will be facing in the coming weeks.
“The good thing about this league is that there is a lot of coverage”, he said “There are a lot of opinions from people on podcasts and Twitter and so on, and it’s interesting to listen to them. But I’m already well aware there are a lot of teams who are very strong, and we will have to match them physically as well as by playing good football.
“It’s early days to be setting targets, but I have always felt, and I have said this to the players and the Chairman, that ten weeks into the season we will know where we are. At that point I think I can answer the question about how we will do, and be able to say if we are going to have a real go like last season.
“We have lost two games at Squires Gate and AFC Liverpool, as well as the FA Cup game so far, but if you look at us last year at the same time, we lost to Irlam and Hanley, and drew with Northwich Flixton Villa and Chadderton.
“So we are actually in a comparative position to where we were last year, and I am confident we will be competitive and will have a say in what will happen in this league as the season goes on”.
Admirals Up For Premier Challenge
Tue 19th August 2014 | Nelson
By Ian Templeman
Despite a mixed set of results so far, Nelson manager Mark Fell believes his squad are more than equipped to make their mark in the Premier Division this season.
The Admirals stepped up a level as First Division champions last season, but Mark says that as well as being keen to keep continuity, he didn’t feel there was a need to make wholesale changes to his squad over the summer.
“My view was that the squad we had was good enough to make us competitive in this league”, he said. “When you look at the players we have, quite a few of them we were lucky enough to get last season, when they were good enough to be playing a couple of levels higher.
“So we have just picked a few players up to add to what we had. We’ve got Gareth Peet, who I was really impressed with when I saw him at Atherton Colls, and we have picked up a couple of lads from local football who came on trial in pre-season and did really well.
“We’ve also had Robert Grimes missing through injury, and he has been a loss in midfield. With the personnel we have we have been playing 4-4-2, but when we have everyone back, we’ve got options to look at other formations.
“We will change and adapt things as and when, we have the personnel to do that. When you play good sides you need to make sure you retain the ball higher up the pitch, for example, but it is sometimes more about picking the right system rather than the right people, depending on who you are playing”.
Injuries affected Mark’s preparations for last weekend’s FA Cup tie against last season’s FA Vase finalists West Auckland Town, but despite some key players missing, his side turned in an excellent performance, and were unlucky on the day not to get something from the game.
“The boys were disappointed to lose to West Auckland, and that’s good, but we have to take some positives out of that game”, he said. “They (West Auckland) were a big, strong team who I think will do well again in the FA competitions, and in the second half we hit the woodwork twice and threw the kitchen sink at them.
“I thought we deserved at least a draw, and on another day it could have gone for us, but that’s football”.
Returning to league matters for now, Mark is now focussing on getting up to speed with the new division and the teams his side will be facing in the coming weeks.
“The good thing about this league is that there is a lot of coverage”, he said “There are a lot of opinions from people on podcasts and Twitter and so on, and it’s interesting to listen to them. But I’m already well aware there are a lot of teams who are very strong, and we will have to match them physically as well as by playing good football.
“It’s early days to be setting targets, but I have always felt, and I have said this to the players and the Chairman, that ten weeks into the season we will know where we are. At that point I think I can answer the question about how we will do, and be able to say if we are going to have a real go like last season.
“We have lost two games at Squires Gate and AFC Liverpool, as well as the FA Cup game so far, but if you look at us last year at the same time, we lost to Irlam and Hanley, and drew with Northwich Flixton Villa and Chadderton.
“So we are actually in a comparative position to where we were last year, and I am confident we will be competitive and will have a say in what will happen in this league as the season goes on”.
