Having just missed out on making the play-offs last season, Stamford AFC moved into the top five in the Pitching In Southern League Premier Central at the weekend following a hard-earned but deserved 1-0 victory over a resilient Alvechurch.
The clean sheet was their fourth from the last five games as they made it seven League games undefeated.
“The lads have defended from front to back to gain the clean sheets,” long-serving manager, Graham Drury told us. “We’re not scoring loads of goals, so it’s important that we remain solid defensively.
“Our main aims this season were to ensure that we remained at Step 3, then try to push on and better last season’s finishing position of seventh. We’ve achieved the first part and now we’re working hard on the next part.
“To find ourselves in the top five at this stage of the season is great. It’s a tough run-in for us, with four of the top six still to play, but we’ll give it our best shot and hopefully we’ll still be in this position come the end of the season.
“Our squad has been hit hard this season; we’ve had our leading scorer missing for eight games, our skipper moved on to Harborough Town part-way through the campaign and we’ve lost pretty much the rest of the midfield to long-term injuries.
“But I have a great bunch of lads here. Those who have stepped up have done really well and I’ve also been able to add a couple recently to help push the group on in these closing stages.
“It’s a tough League; everyone is capable of beating each other, which is great because every weekend a result pops up which goes in your favour and it keeps giving you hope.
“It’s still very close at the top of the table; our aim is to just keep giving it everything we’ve got and see where it takes us.”
Part of that solid defensive line throughout the season has been the ever-present Jordon Cooke who, like his Gaffer, is now in his third spell with the club.
The fact that he’s started every game this season is even more impressive when you consider that he is based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, so there is plenty of travelling and commitment involved off the pitch as well as on it.
“As a defender, I take great pride in keeping clean sheets,” he told us. “It’s nice to get on a run of clean sheets and wins recently because we’d fallen short numerous times during the first half of the season.
“It’s a collective responsibility; everyone puts in the effort to keep the door shut, not just the defenders and goalkeeper. It gives us a solid foundation on which to build and we’ve been able to hit some good form.
“A lot of hard work goes in from the staff, coaches and the board to ensure that we are as well prepared as we possibly can be. There’s a real togetherness here and it’s helped us overcome the hurdles to get to where we are.
“Everyone has one goal and we’re working hard to achieve it. This League has been a roller-coaster all season with the table changing drastically every week. No-one is running away with it and just ten points separates the whole of the top nine.
“You really can’t predict what is going to happen. We know that we have dropped silly points this season and I am sure that most teams will say the same.
“But we’ve adapted well to the situations that we have found ourselves in with new players coming in and the amount of injuries that we have suffered along the way.
“From a personal point of view, I am proud to have started every game and hopefully this will continue for the remainder of the campaign.
“We’re getting to the business end of the season now. We’ve put ourselves right in the heart of the leading pack alongside some strong teams. We’re relishing the battle that stands before us; I know how much hard work goes on behind-the-scenes and it would be great to be celebrating something at the end as a reward for this.
“Seven tough games remain and we’ll be taking them one game at a time. Let’s enjoy the ride and ensure that we have no regrets come the end of the season. It would also be nice to break my scoring duck this season too, but maybe that's asking a bit too much!”
A mouth-watering trip to fellow high-flyers, Bedford Town, lies in wait on Saturday.
IMAGE: @Robgasman
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