BSMFC MANAGERS NOTES

We’d like to extend a warm welcome to the players, officials and supporters of Aylestone Park who are the visitors to the Sett for today’s United Counties Premier Division South fixture.

Aylestone Park are no strangers to the Sett, having enjoyed some good battles against them in recent times albeit in Division 1 and at a time when both teams were under different management.

Having appointed former Lutterworth Town Manager Josh Dixon ahead of the 2022/23 season Aylestone were the stand-out side in Division 1 last season, winning the title and with-it promotion to Step 5.

Boasting a strong squad and with fantastic facilities, they are certainly a Club on the up, we know that we face another significant test today.

That said and as we keep re-iterating, we must concentrate on ourselves. The one thing that we can control is our own performance.

We were excellent in last weeks FA Cup tie against Step 4 opposition and whilst the outcome may have been the same it was clear to all that the turning point came around the hour mark when the officials failed to spot an off the ball incident which resulted in our Captain having to be substituted with a bloodied nose following a head-butt by the visiting striker – cameras are everywhere nowadays. Given that we were 2-1 ahead at the time it was another case of what might have been.

Anyway, we can’t feel sorry for ourselves we need to ensure that we remain confident in our ability and take the positives from games to date into today; we are sure it is only a matter of time before we are rewarded for our performances.

On the player front the squad is looking strong; last week we were able to call upon the experienced Calvin Green along with youngsters Johnny Carey and Dylan Surace for the first time this season. Archie May, who has re-joined us following a season at Chenecks, was also involved as an unused substitute and we also have Josh Whaler back training with us.

There is real competition for places with no shirt guaranteed. However, this also means that we will have disappointed players who may not make the match day squad, we can only pick sixteen.

We understand that players want to be involved with the First Team therefore we would urge those who miss out to accept our decisions, take it on the chin and prove us wrong by putting in performances in the Reserves.

Onto the Reserves it was disappointing to see their scheduled season opener at Bourne fall foul of the weather last week, who’d have thought we’d have games postponed for waterlogged pitches in August…..anyway it is what it is, let’s hope that they can soon get their season up and running sooner rather than later as we have players itching at the bit!

Thank you for your support, enjoy the game and we look forward to seeing you at Compton Park when we make the trip to Cogenhoe United on Tuesday.