2 weeks Ago
"You hear them singing," said Welwyn Garden City boss Marc Weatherstone after a 4-0 home success over North Leigh in Southern League Division One Central. "Lovely isn't it? It's great. This group is spot on, they're so good, and it translates onto the pitch.
" Matt Whichelow and Welwyn Garden City celebrate their fourth goal against North Leigh. Picture: NORTH LEIGH (Image: Peter Short) The winning run has seen Kidlington and Leverstock Green beaten prior to this, both having conceded four goals, with this latest three points putting the Citizens up to third, just one point adrift of leaders Hadley. The boss is not counting his chickens just yet, but this is another step to his own personal goal for the club.
Weatherstone said: "We’ve got a little of an ego about us and on paper, we should be beating North Leigh based on where they are in the table. "But you can't take these game lightly, anyone in this league can beat anyone. We’ve seen that last year, we’ve seen that with some of the results this year.
"So I keep the boys grounded, I want them to have a bit of an ego and the confidence that we can beat any team in this division, but we have to understand that the basics must be done well first to get those three points. "We work extremely hard, the boys cover the ground, the GPS stats don’t lie, but that's the bare minimum we expect from this football club and from the squad. "We know we've got good enough players to do something this year but there’s no talk of play-offs.
"My ambition this year is to beat the points tally from last season, that shows progress and improvement and where it takes us, who knows? "But we've started a hell of a lot better than last year. That’s three good wins [in the last three games], we’ve scored four in all of them and kept two clean sheets. "So, at the minute, we’re doing our jobs at both ends of the park, which I'm pleased about.
" The clean sheet was not only the second in a row, there were more goals for Bailey Stevenson, his 14th in all competitions, a fourth in four for Lewis Taaffe and a second consecutive goal for Matty Whichelow. Brad Wadkins was back on the scoresheet too and it is all adding to a wonderful time to be at Welwyn. "[Goalkeeper] Joe Welch's experience helps," said the boss, "he’s talking from the back and that just goes through the whole unit.
"The defenders are talking a lot more and keeping clean sheets, midfielders are doing their job and the strikers are scoring goals. "I'm so happy with every single unit, even the subs. Matty Whichelow has come off the bench in the last two games and scored.
"I am on cloud nine at the minute but I said to the boys to stay humble. It's only 12 games and a lot can change but it’s a great start." And while the boss knows there is still plenty of work to do this season, he feels they are learning from their mistakes and getting better week after week.
There's even teachable moments for him too. "I'm a serious guy," he said. "I’m really serious about my job and too serious at times, I know that, but the moment I’ll relax is when the last whistle of the season goes and we see where we are at.
"Whether we’re in the play-offs or not, if we’ve improved on last year’s tally, that’s when I’ll relax. "But I've got to learn to enjoy the moment to be fair." Maybe, he should just join in with the singing.
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