"I've got huge belief in the lads" says Buckland ahead of final busy month of the season for Chalford

Chalford Co-Manager Nat Buckland believes his side are capable of making a late surge for the top four in the County League, with nine games to come in the next month.

Buckland’s side are in their debut season in the County League after winning the GNSL Division One title last term and with Chalford currently in 7th place, Buckland says he has enjoyed the test of the County League and admits there aren’t too many differences between the levels.

“It’s been up and down but overall, we’ve set out what we wanted to do and that was to really establish ourselves in the County League.

Obviously, there were some ambitions for us to finish at the top end of the league and I still think we will, but ultimately it was about finding our feet in the County League – it’s been really nice actually, going to some different grounds and different teams that haven’t usually played if at all,” said Buckland on this Saturday’s Buttee’s For Breakfast.

“I wouldn’t say there’s too much difference between the top end of GNSL Div One and the County League. I wouldn’t say there’s too much there.

The one difference I would say there is between the county and the northern senior is the consistency in the quality, so you rarely play a bad side in the county league and if they are a bad side then its just an off day,” Buckland added.

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After assisting Ben Powell and Ben Newman last season, Buckland stepped up into a Co-Manager role alongside Powell – a role he says he has enjoyed.

“I’ve really enjoyed it [stepping into Management], it’s something I have always wanted to do,” admitted Buckland.

“I had dabbled in a bit of management before, but when I’ve done it it’s always been because I’ve been injured or I wasn’t playing, so now I’ve chosen to do it on my terms and I’m going to make that step because I want to and not because I have to,” Buckland added.

Chalford have away games at Filton Athletic and Ruardean Hill Rangers this weekend and next midweek, before seven home games to conclude their season.

With fixtures against the likes of Frampton United, Sharpness and Bromley Heath United to come, Buckland says he believes his side are capable of claiming another five wins to try and finish the season as strongly as possible to conclude a successful campaign.

“I think talking of season goals or objectives it’s already been a success, if you want to take April alone, I think out of the seven (home) games, you could come away with 4 or 5 wins – we’re very good at home.

Notoriously, it’s a hard place to come and play, so I fancy us against anyone at any point, let alone playing at home.

That may be a little bit outspoken and a bit ambitious, but I’ve got huge belief in the lads, the squad that we’ve got and their abilities,” Buckland added.

Listen to the full interview with Nat Buckland on this weekend’s Buttee’s For Breakfast, live on Severn Sport at 9am on Saturday morning.

Cover photo taken by and copyright to Brian Rossiter. Check out his Flickr account for all of his pictures by clicking here