“You’re only as good as your last game” says Handley after Newent secure highest points tally in Hellenic League
Newent Town Co-Manager Luke Handley has praised his side after making history for the football club, but has cooled any talk of targeting the play-offs.
Saturday saw Newent claim a 4-0 win at Clanfield 85, with goals from George Brand, Ben Harbourne, Dylan Hart and Samuel Judge and in doing so, saw Newent move onto 38 points – their highest ever return since joining Hellenic Division One.
Reflecting on the game, Handley praised his side’s performance, in particular that of Captain Dylan Hart and celebrated the milestone that he and Co-Manager Zaq Hussain have lead their players to.
“Saturday away at Clanfield was really pleasing to be honest. We asked the players to get the basics of the game right and work hard for one another. and we knew the rest would come. What was also pleasing was to see our skipper Dylan Hart net his 21st of the season too!
Both me and Zaq feel as a whole it is probably our best/most dominant performance of the season, away from home aswell with a much needed clean sheet. The lads were fantastic,” said Handley.
“Me and Zaq were over the moon to achieve the highest ever points total for Newent and to do it in January was an even bigger bonus.
We’ve always done everything together, even outside of football, so reaching this milestone in management together was a good feeling – but all the credit must go to our playing squad aswell, they are a great bunch of lads, who all buy into what me and Zaq believe in,” Handley added.
Saturday’s win made it two league wins in a row for Newent and moved them into the play-off places with 12 games remaining, but Handley admits that finishing in the top 5 hasn’t become a big target and he will continue for his side to take it one game at a time and see where they end up.
“For us at the stage we’re in as a football club, it’s just about the next game at this moment in time to be honest. You’re only as good as your last game and we’ve stressed to the lads we will tick things off one game at a time.
So for now, our focus is just the next game and over the course of the next couple of months we will see where that takes us,” said Handley.
The next month or so will really test Newent’s play-off credentials, as after a free weekend this week, they face four of the sides in the top six – with the top two, FC Stratford and Bewdley Town plus 6th place Redditch Borough all visiting Wildsmith Meadow and ahead of a crucial run, Handley reiterated that nothing changes and Newent will approach each game in the same way.
“These next set of fixtures are huge in our season,” admitted Handley. “We don’t want to apply any unwanted pressure on the lads and as I said before it’s just one game at a time.
We fully believe we are more than capable of picking up points over the course of February and we set up to win every game possible.
As much as they’re big games for us, they are also big games for the teams we’re facing and being involved in football these are the games you want to be involved in, so yeah, we’re really looking forward to the month ahead,” Handley added.
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