Manager sets sights on the play-offs
PLAY-OFFS are the aim for FC Stratford manager Jon Hill whose side have won two, drawn two and lost two of their opening six games in Division One of the Hellenic League.
Tuesday saw them share the spoils in a thrilling 4-4 draw at home to Stonehouse Town in which both sides scored in added time at the end of a game that produced a sending off for each team.
The Gloucestershire visitors opened up an early two-goal lead but Stratford reeled them in at the break with goals from Anthony Umoh and Dan Chaundy.
Stonehouse struck a third within a minute of the restart but Hill’s side looked to have snatched victory when Sam Rodber drilled a 25-yard effort into the roof of the net before Kian Hamer headed in a fourth. That was until Alex Bell made it 4-4 in the seventh minute of added time.
The FC boss said: “It was a game that had everything and one where you had to stay switched on right to the end. We haven’t done that in a game of fine margins and it hasn’t quite gone our way.
“The players feel as though it has been a defeat, particularly when you concede so late but as manager I have to tell them that it’s a point on the board and that’s important at this stage in the season. It would have been nice to get all three and we should have done that.
“We just need to eradicate the bits of sloppiness in our game and then we will be OK. We scored four goals tonight, so the talent is there and it is starting to come together with the new players that we have brought in.
“The team never gives up. Even when the odds were massively against us as 2-0 and then 3-2 down. If we can stop letting in three or four goals then it will make life easier for strikers as they will only have to score one or two rather than five or six.
“Our aim is to get into the play-offs. We know it is going to be very competitive. We have recruited players who have been at a higher level or around senior football so that they can give us a little bit of experience to bed in with the younger talent that we have. It’s probably what has been missing for the past couple of seasons.”
A busy weekend of football saw FC Stratford’s league rivals Southam United lose 4-1 at Kidlington Reserves on Monday after exiting the FA Vase on Saturday when they lost 3-0 at home to MFL Premier side Wolverhampton Casuals.
Studley are also out of the competition, losing 1-0 at Market Drayton Town, but bounced back with a 1-0 win at home to Stourport Swifts in the league on Monday when the only goal came from the penalty spot early in the second half.
In MFL Division Two, Earlswood Town drew 3-3 with Central Ajax on Saturday but lost 4-2 at Coventry Alvis on Monday.
Harry Dixon netted a hat-trick for the Earls against Ajax with Harry Street and substitute Elliot Kelleher on target on the Monday.
And Alcester Town made it three on the bounce in the Hellenic Premier League with a 3-1 victory over Ludlow Town Reserves. Jake Wicketts scored two of the goals with Adam Bourn also on target for the Romans.
