Holwell Sports boss hails honest conversations for winning run

Holwell Sports boss Neil Miller believes clear-the-air talks following a humiliating 9-4 league defeat has helped the club turn their form around.
Luke Peberdy holds on to possesion against Whitworth EMN-191016-120035002Luke Peberdy holds on to possesion against Whitworth EMN-191016-120035002
Luke Peberdy holds on to possesion against Whitworth EMN-191016-120035002

The Welby Road faithful might have been forgiven for fearing the worst when they saw their side taken apart 9-4 at home by Stamford side Blackstones in the final game of September.

But instead the team responded the following week with a clean sheet and three points at Birstall, before a comfortable 4-1 county cup win.

And fortunes got even better on Saturday when Wellingborough Whitworth were routed 6-0 at Asfordby Hill.

Harry Allcock score twice on his home debut for Holwell EMN-191016-120046002Harry Allcock score twice on his home debut for Holwell EMN-191016-120046002
Harry Allcock score twice on his home debut for Holwell EMN-191016-120046002

Goals from David Hazeldine, Junior Gaskin and George Coser put Holwell 3-0 up at half-time before a second-half double from new signing Harry Allcock and an Aiden Black strike cemented their biggest win of the season.

Miller said: “After Blackstones we had to sit down and have some honest conversations to remind ourselves we were better than that and that is was time to take some responsibility and accountability.

“We also needed to earn the respect back from the paying fans and everyone agreed with that.

“I had to have that conversation, too. I can’t ask the players to go and reflect if I wasn’t going to do the same.

“I made a slight change of formation and the lads took on board what we wanted.”

He added: “It was night and day at Birstall. The clean sheet for the back four was the best thing that could have happened, and we saw the change in morale just from that 90 minutes.”

Wellingborough arrived in decent form last weekend, sitting eighth in UCL Division One having taken seven points from their previous four matches.

Miller also had concerns to manage as the perennial headache of availability reared its head once more.

“We had a couple of injuries and Ian Bitmead was suspended and then on the morning of the game I had a couple more pull out.

“We got to the ground with the bare 11 so that made the result even better.”

Miller, who marked a year in charge last week, knows his main job now is to stave off complacency ahead of another winnable home match on Saturday against Huntingdon (3pm) who have lost three of their last four.

“We are not teaching them anything amazing or complex,” Miller added. “We’re just asking them to work hard with the ball and work even harder without it.

“It’s a long season and winning three games on the bounce is good, but it counts for nothing if we lose the next couple.

“We have got ourselves into that mid-table position and instead of saying we are nice and comfortable we need to ask what’s the next step.”

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