Bards coach praises his rearguard
DEFENCE is key to Stratford Town reaching the play-offs according to head coach Paul Davis - and he has bolstered his backline with the loan signing of a Football League centre half.
Oxford United youngster Aaron Lacey made his debut for the Bards in their 2-0 defeat of fellow Southern League Premier Central high-fliers Halesowen Town on Saturday and his debut was worthy of praise.
“That was a proper performance from us,” Davis said. “With it being so tight at the top, it was important that we didn’t lose but to put in such a professional performance and keep another clean sheet is pleasing.
“Goals change games and we scored them at the right time, nullifying the game a little bit. But it’s all built on a solid defence.
“I thought Aaron was brilliant. That was his first game in senior football. I’d like to thank Oxford United, I know the guys there. Last week he trained with a National League team and they wanted him to go there but because of my relationship with them they have let him come to us.
“Dan Vann failed a fitness test before the game and was struggling so we had to put him on the bench. We need to manage his knees because he has played a lot of games - five over two weeks at Christmas. But we now have options.
“I thought Kev (Joshua) was excellent again. He’d not played much before he came to us and he’s now played three games in two weeks and we’ve kept two clean sheets. We then have Paul McCone marshalling them up with Weavo (keeper Jake Weaver) behind them.
“As a team we have been good all season and haven’t conceded many goals and I stand by what I said at the start of the season which was that if we concede fewer than 40 goals we will be in the play-offs.”
Stratford have shipped just 27 goals in 27 games this season, just two sides in the division have conceded fewer.
Davis was also pleased with the way his team responded to the defeat at Spalding United in their previous match.
He added: “It was a below-par performance at Spalding but I can count on my thumbs how many of those we have had this season, the only other one was at Sudbury. There won’t be too many teams that can say they've only had two off-par performances at this stage in the season.
“The important thing was that we bounced back. We lost 3-0 away at Sudbury and bounced back with a good 1-0 win at Hitchin and we lost 3-0 last weekend and thought that after two good training sessions this week we dug in and showed what we are capable of by beating Halesowen.”
The Bards have also signed a second player on loan from Oxford United, teenage winger Kasway Burton who had a spell on loan at step four side Beaconsfield Town earlier in the season.