Promotion battle hots up for FC Stratford

FC STRATFORD face play-off rivals Clanfield 85 and Redditch Borough over the next week with their manager stating “we don’t fear anybody”.

Boss Neil Chaundy saw his side bolster their top five place in Hellenic League Division One with a hard-fought 1-0 win at home to Cheltenham Saracens on Tuesday and admitted that with players returning to the side, he faces a selection headache ahead of the weekend.

“We knew it was going to be really tough against Cheltenham,” he admitted. “We played them away at the start of the season and lost 3-2 in a very similar, physical game.

“We have won ugly and we had to see it out at the end but I’m pleased with the win which cements our place in the play-offs. That is five games unbeaten and show that we don’t fear anybody.

“A year ago we would probably have lost games like this one and I think that’s because we have a little bit more steel in the team now. The players are a year older and wiser and there is a real togetherness and a good squad mentality.

“We have also had a couple of people come back to the club like Toby Nicholl and Dan Atkins so we have a strong squad.

“We have eight games left including some tough ones starting with Clanfield on Saturday and Redditch on Tuesday. We have struggled to keep clean sheets so winning 1-0 is particularly pleasing. We have a habit of switching off a little bit allowing teams to come back and hurt us. We have worked on being tougher and we have done a lot of defensive work so I’m really pleased with the ‘nil’.

The Cheltenham game was the 50th in an FC Stratford shirt for Jake Williams and Chaundy was full of praise.

He said: “Jake is a really important player and always puts 100 per cent into every game. He has developed immensely over the 50 games he has played and is one of the first names on the teamsheet.

“He’s a versatile team member who can play in a variety of positions in the backfour or midfield, always putting in a shift for the team. He is probably one of the best attacking headers of the ball around and is very often seen making late runs into the box scoring some very important goals.”

Stratford Town trio Lewis Wilson, Dan Vann and Jamie Molyneux featured against Saracens due to a number of players being unavailable.

But Chandy added: “We had a few people out but Dan Atkins should be back and Kian Hamer should be back from holiday. I am going to have a bit of a headache picking the squad.”