Driscoll targeting play-offs for Foresters ahead of busy schedule
Cinderford Town Manager Matthew Driscoll admits that “Playoffs is the ambition” following his side’s victory over Pershore and ahead of a busy end of season schedule.
Cinderford Town manager Matthew Driscoll has expressed that “it would be a fantastic season” if his side were to make the playoffs this campaign.
“They’re a really good team, Pershore, it’s a hard place to come. It was a good battling performance, we made it hard going to 10 men, but it just showed what sort of character our team had to withstand it,” Driscoll said to Jake Williams following the win.
With Cinderford captain Dan Barnard seeing a second yellow card just 35 minutes in, Driscoll’s side had to play the best part of an hour with one less player, meaning a change of game plan was needed.
“We went 4-4-1. We just had to get behind the ball and try to stay compact, try to hit them on the counter and work off set plays, ” he said.
“When they scored with about 15, 20 minutes to go I thought it was a bit of squeaky-bum time, but I thought we thoroughly deserved the win to be honest,” Driscoll added.
It had been a couple of weeks since either team had played a game due to weather-related postponements taking over the league, and Driscoll could see that his side weren’t up to par in the opening period of the match.
“If you look at the first 10, 15 minutes you could see we were rusty, and I thought when Morgan Kerry scored the free-kick it hyped us up and we came to life.
“The sending off, it was definitely a sending off, no complaints there!” Driscoll admitted.
Of course, with the postponements playing their part, it means Cinderford have, in some cases, five or six games in hand over those around them, meaning it’s going to be a busy run-in from now until the end of the season. Driscoll knows full well what that schedule will bring.
“It’s going to be Tuesday, Saturday all season, which could work for us, we could go on a run, or it could be picking up injuries. Dan Brain picked up an injury today, he could be out for a few weeks.
Luckily we’ve got reserves that we can bounce on as well,” said Driscoll.
Royal Wootton Bassett Town, who currently sit in third, are up next for the Foresters in midweek, which is certainly going to be a tough task for Driscoll’s men.
“We played them away a couple of weeks ago, it was a 1-1 draw and it was a fair result,” he explained.
“We needed this game today going into that, because you could see in the first 10 minutes it was quite tough for us.”
His side are currently sat in 10th, but are just seven points off a playoff place and, as previously mentioned, have plenty of games in hand. It’s clear what the aim is for Driscoll and Cinderford Town.
“At the start of the season our ambition was probably to stay in the league. We started the season with one player, Dan Barnard the captain, and then we recruited really well.
“You look now, if we win our games in hand we can go up to third or fourth, so playoffs is the ambition, if we make the playoffs it’ll be a fantastic season, so for me, we want to be pushing for those playoffs,” Driscoll added.
Following Royal Wootton Bassett Town’s visit on Tuesday night, Cinderford play hosts to Hereford Lads Club on Saturday.
READ MORE: Check out the full list of Saturday’s results in and around Gloucestershire right here
