Foxwell sets sights on promotion for Shortwood despite losing Slimbridge battle
Shortwood United manager, Marcus Foxwell, says play-offs are the aim for his side next season despite suffering a 4-1 defeat against Slimbridge at Thornhill Park on Friday, writes Sam Yapp.
Foxwell’s side fell to a first defeat in four matches during their pre-season preparation against Hellenic League Premier side Slimbridge.
Haydn Evans headed the Swans in front three minutes in before Shortwood levelled through debutant Alfie Bradshaw following a delicious outside of the boot ball by Elliot Martin.
“We made a good account for ourselves as well in moments and that’s all we can ask for at this point.
“We have a lot of pace in our attacking areas, so we always try to find those balls. It was a great pass by Elliot [Martin] with the outside of boot and a good finish by Alfie [Bradshaw] on what was his debut,” Foxwell said.
But the Swans quickly regained the lead through a Jonty Welch free kick before a Jack Smith second half brace secured the Swans victory with Foxwell disappointed at how these chances came about.
“They’re [Slimbridge] a very good team so they were always going to be better than us.
“We’re disappointed with a couple of the goals we gave away so when you come up against these higher opposition, they will punish you.
“We have to learn from this and pretty quickly too as the season is only a week away,” he said.
The scoreline could have been worse for Foxwell’s side if not for the heroics of goalkeeper Joe Wright who denied Smith on four occassions highly impressing his manager.
“Wrighty is class, and we are so happy to be able to keep him here another season. He will be massive for us again, as proven tonight,” he said.
Shortwood have impressed during pre-season defeating Taverners, Brimbscombe & Thrupp and Brockworth Albion as they continue their preparations for the 2024/25 Hellenic League Division One season.
And Foxwell has used these testing preparations to experiment with his side and get to know what players work for him in the system he strives to play.
“We’ve had quite a heavy squad, as seen tonight where we had 19 players, so it’s all been about getting minutes into people, mixing the team up and we’re all still learning.
“A lot of people have been on holiday, or something so are just coming back. Everyone is at different stages this pre-season in fitness levels, and we have a week before the season starts to get everyone up together,” he said.
Despite suffering defeat to higher opposition Shortwood’s good form in pre-season has got the club aiming high for next season.
Foxwell and Shortwood have laid out their plans of wanting to reach the Hellenic Premier and feels that the next campaign could be the one to do it.
“We always set out to be better than last season. We finished ninth last season knowing we had a bad spell around Christmas. Take that away we were looking at being on the edge of the play-offs.
“Our aim this year is to try and improve on that and look to sneak a play-off spot really but any improvement on last season is the aim,” he said.
Shortwood have one more pre-season test before their campaign begins in just over a week as they welcome National League side, Forest Green Rovers, to Meadowbank on Wednesday.
With Steve Cotterill’s side arriving there is a good feeling around the club of a high turnout for fans and an atmosphere that could back the boys over the line.
“Everyone is massively looking forward to the game. Obviously we’ll be doing a lot of running that night because they keep the ball well, but it will be great lesson for us, great for fitness and a fantastic event for the club,” Foxwell said.
Shortwood United welcome Forest Green Rovers to Meadowbank on Wednesday July 31st with kick off at 19:30.
