‘Match Preview: Northampton Men’s 1 v Stratford Men’s 1’
After a swash buckling goal bonanza last weekend against a visiting Coalville side, the men’s first team now turn their attention to next Saturday’s encounter with a visit from Stratford.
With preseason now well underway and two weekends left before the real season starts, the squad is now focussing beyond basic structural tactics. The next few weeks look more towards match day fitness levels and style of play, as the head coach Christian Howard starts to blend in new players with more regular faces from past seasons.
New formation works
The match stats from the Coalville game look impressive. A quick look at the very top line numbers demonstrate an attacking approach that delivers results.
- 1 hat-rick from Stuart Clark
- 7 goals
Howard hints towards a new formation “we learnt last year we must be adaptable to quickly changing circumstances, so we need to be comfortable in different formations.” This clearly had fast benefits to the side last weekend given the statistics. “We will judge what we go with next week based on the squad selection so I’ll be watching out for continued individual’s improvement in training this week. Physical fitness is a key factor.”
Mahoney [left] and Clark [right] building their rapport with Clark securing a hat-rick
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Experience counts
He cites key figures in the existing set up as important influences for a positive start to the season “the great thing about this group is the balance between experience and youth but most recently, it’s the lads with the greater experience who have helped set the tone and crucially, took a leading role in integrating new or returning players into the new team philosophy.”
One of the key protagonists in Howard’s judgement is defensive midfielder Tom Drake, who joined the squad in season 2014-15. Drake has National League experience with London club Teddington, where he captained and made over 50 appearances. His career in his late twenties was curtailed somewhat thanks to an unfortunate series of knee injuries that limited his ‘starts’ until he decided a period on the side-lines was necessary to get his body back into competitive shape.
Drake reflected on his Teddington past this week “Teddies [Teddington HC] is a club that made me understand how important it is to bring new players into the fold and do it quickly. It’s especially important in pre-season because games come thick and fast and before you know it, big league teams appear on the fixture list and you need the best team spirit you can get to overcome all sorts of challenges, be them international class players, raw natural talent or sides that are tough to break down.”
“I enjoy it here”
Interestingly, Drake was seriously considering giving up the game at the end of last season, but a series of events changed his mind and he extended his commitment. He explains “finishing so strongly as a team last year reignited the hunger to keep playing. But adding to that, it was the award of Player of the Season from the lads that really took me aback. We’ve achieved a lot in a short space of time and I’m prepared and focussed on sticking this journey through, basically because I enjoy it here.”
The next match
Looking ahead to this weekend, Stratford pose an interesting challenge for the new look Northampton squad. “They come here off the back of a brilliant season, just marginally missing out on promotion into our league” says Howard. “I’m sure they will be setting their standards to do that this season and it’s our job to remind them of the step up needed to be in the Midlands 1. It’s a good match-up for both teams.”
The match against Stratford will see some shuffling in the overall squad because of expected absences, but at no detriment to the quality on offer to the coaching team as more players return.
Team news
Bentley, Mahoney, Madeley (GK), Whorton, Beattie, Newsway, Parker (C), Arnold, Whittaker, Phillips, Lewington, Clark, Moore, Haggan, Busby, Moore, M Miller (GK)
The match on Saturday pushes back at 13.30 at the water base in Moulton.
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