Wisbech Town manager reflects of the first half of the season for the Fenmen in his half-term report
Things are looking up for Wisbech Town heading into the second half of the season.
Under the current managerial team of Luke Hipwell, Andy Furnell and Ross McNeil, the Fenmen are starting to make progress on the pitch.
After an extremely difficult start to their United Counties League Premier Division North campaign, the Fenmen have lifted themselves out of the drop zone, although there is still work to be done as the club looks to stave off the threat of relegation.
Sports editor Greg Plummer spoke to manager Hipwell, who delivered his half-term report at Fountain Fresh Park.
In terms of performances what have been your best and worst of the season so far and why?
Our best performance of the season so far has been the win against Bourne Town at home. It was a performance full of effort, resilience and quality where the group stuck to the game plan throughout against a Bourne Town side full of quality and who continue to fly.
The worst performance during my time as manager would be Ashby at home. Not anything due to lack of effort but the individual mistakes we made at crucial points in the game.
How do you view your progress in the Premier Division this season?
When I first came into the club as manager I was under no illusions of the task ahead of us but I know that this football club has great potential to get back to where it was.
As I have said lots of times, there were bound to be bumps in the road as we gradually looked for consistency due to lots of changes initially as well as building my backroom staff with Rossi, Furns and now Paul who has come in as physio following the help of Albany and Kelly.
I feel now we are at a point where we have a solid group who we can move forward with as well as adding quality where and when that comes along or we feel we need to.
You have a very young squad at your disposal and were forced into a few changes since you arrived early in the season. Did that change your approach at all?
When I first arrived, the target was to create a group that were young and hungry, along with adding experienced players who have played at higher levels.
The approach has always been to create a group we can progress with as opposed to making lots of changes season upon season.
I am really pleased with the group we have assembled and I would like to think we can keep this group together moving into next season.
Who has had the biggest influence for you in the dressing room?
Max Mattless without a doubt. During a turbulent time at the start of the season, Max really stood up and showed his leadership within the group in terms of ensuring that we were doing things right as well as his passion for this football club.
As well as this, I think Max's performances have continued to get better as the season has gone on and it was a blow for us when he sustained his injury at Ashby but he will soon be back playing and has now started training again.
Who has had the biggest influence for you on the pitch so far and why?
This is a difficult question as there have been some excellent performances throughout the season but I would say that the signing of Kyle Barker has had a great influence on what we do on the pitch.
Kyle has bundles of quality but it is his calm nature on the pitch which I feel has been the biggest influence, taking the ball when we are under pressure as well as his decision-making during key moments.
Looking back at the first few months, has there been a turning point as such?
I think there have been a couple of turning points.
Gaining our first win at home to Sleaford was massive for confidence as well as the win against Bourne which showed that we could compete with the teams at the top end of the table.
What are your hopes for the remainder of the season?
The first priority is to ensure we get enough points as quickly as possible to stay in the league and then continue to build on what we are looking to create which is built on culture - wanting to be the best we can be and trying to do things right all of the time.
The minimum requirement is to compete in every game we play - the group know that's what I expect.
Where do you think there is room for improvement and why?
Consistency, that's the key area. I feel if we had shown more of this then we would already have more points than we have already achieved.
This is about being more consistent during key moments in games, taking chances when given the opportunity and make sure that we are at the level required collectively for 90 minutes.
Who do you think will be contesting the UCL Premier Division North promotion places come the end of the season?
In terms of automatic promotion, I think that is between Eastwood, Bourne Town and Lincoln United.
The crucial games will be when they play each other as well as those Tuesday night games where you can get results you don't expect.
For the other play-off positions, I think there are a few teams that can cement themselves in these positions.
Newark and AFC Mansfield have had great seasons and Boston Town have hit form at the right time, equally, you can't rule out the three or four teams below them.