Aldershot Town continue their season in the 2021/22 Vanarama National League against Wealdstone FC on Saturday with a 3pm kick-off.
Read what First-Team Manager Danny Searle had to say in full:
Q: Danny, Wealdstone on Saturday, what’s your thoughts ahead of the game?
“We’ve looked at a lot of their footage to be fair and they’ve had a similar start to us in a lot of ways, in the sense of they’ve had games where they should’ve got more out of it than they did.
“Credit to them, they’ve recruited well in the summer and I look at the way they’re trying to play and they’re a good side so it’s going to be a tough game on Saturday.”
Q: Talking about our preparation, we go into it with our first win of the season against Southend, one that I know that you and the boys were particularly proud of on the night
“We showed great character, and the core psychological and mental attributes that we want from players, we showed on Tuesday night.
“We showed maturity and we did the ‘nasty’ bits well, but and it is a but, we have to build on that to make sure that’s the standard. That’s the level we’re attaining too every time we step out on the football pitch.
“Credit to the lads because as I’ve said they’ve showed great resilience.
“We all knew the result was coming so to get it under the belt, gives us an opportunity to go into Saturday with confidence in the team, knowing that we’ll need to be at our best to bring the points home on Saturday.”
Q: Like you’ve said before, winning is a habit and you want to get into that routine and picking up god results
“This is a league that epitomises the ability that if you can put a run together, then you can catapult yourself up the table and vice versa, if you are on a bad streak, you can drop 10 places in three games!
“It’s such a competitive league, it’s such a tough league and we have to make sure though that we’re putting in the work and the effort that gives us an opportunity to win every football match and I think that the last three performances, I think we’ve done that and long may that continue.”
Q: Last night saw us host our first Fans Forum of the season as well and although it was a bit longer than we were expecting but it was good to get all the questions answered for the fans
“That’s what it’s there for.
“I know not everyone always agrees with me and some people do and some people don’t but that’s life and that’s football.
“But I’m always honest, I’ll always answer the question if I can and if I have an answer, I’ll give you an answer. Sometimes it might not be what people want to hear but it’ll be our opinion on how things are.
“So thanks to everyone who attended. Thanks to everyone who submitted questions because it was quite an informative evening and I hope that anyone who watched it, whether it be via the Facebook link or at the event will say that we’ve got nothing to hide.
“We are where we are and what we’re saying is, let’s all muck in together and see where that takes us.”
Q: We also mentioned on the night that there’s almost a Fans Forum of sorts at the end of every home game, with members of staff going up to the EBB Lounge after the game and make themselves available there too
“I’ve never not gone up to the EBB Lounge after a game, win, lose or draw because one, we don’t hide because we take the rough with the smooth and not being in there when we win and then not being in there when we lose and as long as people are respectful and put their point across in the right way, we’ll entertain any conversation.
“I don’t particularly want to be in there for four hours like we were at the Fans Forum last night! But we’ll answer questions and if it’s done in the right manner and with an understanding that we don’t ever walk out onto the pitch to perform badly or lose a game, we try and win every time we do it.
“So as long as that’s taken into consideration, that should be fine.”
Q: Injury-wise, we had George (Fowler) come back in, Mo (Bettamer) come back in, obviously Kev (Lokko) and Wass (Aouachria) missed out, what’s the latest with some of those players?
“You’ve pretty much summed it up!
“Obviously George and Mo played with George getting his first full 90 since his knock and Mo came back in and played the longest he’s played so far, it’s probably a little bit longer than we wanted him too, but he’s recovered fine so he’s in good shape for Saturday.
“Wass comes back into the squad which is great and we’ve got a couple we need to look at who are carrying a little bit but within reason, I think we’re pretty much as we were.”
Q: Looking at Wealdstone, we had a good record against them last season, beating them home here and away there, but like you mentioned off camera yesterday, there a bit of a different side this season in terms of a lot of good additions to the squad this season
“They’ve bought in some good experience and the thing is with this league, you don’t know.
“You can go to a Notts County and like we did last year, win and play a King’s Lynn at home and they battered us last year and I think that’s why so many teams struggle when they’re out of the Football League to go straight back up, because they are no dead cert fixtures.
“There is not a fixture you can look at and go “we are 100% going to win that game” because you can’t do that.
” I know people argue that in any level, but within reason, the top sides generally beat the teams in the lower eschelons of the league, but it doesn’t work like that in our league.
“Some of the results already this season have shown that and some of the goals being scored, it’s a really tough league and you’ve got good managers, good players, massive clubs and everyone’s giving themselves a chance to get a good result on a regular basis, which makes it from a neutral perspective, an exciting league.
“Frustrating as hell for a manager! But it is the way it is and Wealdstone are no different from that perspective.”
Q: Of course, with the hope that we can have a similar thriller to when we were there last season, when we won 4-3
“I’d take a boring 1-0!
“But the bottom line is we need to make sure we come away with some points tomorrow and we’ll build from that and see where it takes us.”
