Looking to Start 2022 on the Front Foot

SOUTHAM UNITED

16

LOOKING TO START 2022 ON THE FRONT FOOT

WORDS // RHIAN TILLEY

The club’s leading goal-scorer and two-time Player of the Match winner, Jay Lawes, discusses the importance of starting out the second half of the season strong, as well as how the squad is moving on from some tough, recent league and cup match defeats at Bobby Hancocks Park.

We’ve gotten through the winter break and the completion of the front half of the season. Where are you at in regards to the way the first 14 matches have gone?

Overall, I think the first half of the season has gone well, everyone has been working hard and it has been displayed on the pitch. We’ve scored a lot of goals and have played some really good football, especially in the big games.

The recent defeat at home to Cropredy felt like a very tough loss. Was there a bit of a hangover for the Kenilworth game? Or did it feel like two completely different matches in their own right?

The Cropredy game was a tough result to take, we were not sharp enough from the start and found it hard to get going during the game. Going into the Kenilworth game we knew it would be a bigger challenge and I thought we were very unlucky with the result; we played some good football but were let down with poor refereeing decisions throughout the whole game.

You’ve been in great form since the last time we spoke; topping the team goal-scoring leader-board, picking up multiple POTM awards, etc. What do you think has helped you to find that form so quickly after joining the team at the end of September?

The team has helped me hugely in each game to get my goals, as well as Rich and the coaching

staff, so can only thank them. The training sessions have been high intensity which helps a lot when transferring what we train to the pitch.

With multiple additions committing to the club after you arrived, we’ve finally hit that 20-man squad that Rich had been looking for and it feels like the team has really come together. Do you see a group that is really gelling and hitting their stride? Or are we still in a growth period that you see taking even longer to work itself out?

The current group of players we have are brilliant, we have a lot of quality all across the pitch and we all get along really well. We have played some class football in many games this season and have destroyed teams with our work ethic on and off the ball. We have had a few games where we haven’t been at our best especially in the league, but we have learnt from these games and will put it right starting from Saturday.

With multiple games in hand over the teams above us, we currently sit 4th in the league. Do you think this is a fair reflection of how the season has gone so far? Or do you think we’ve let some opportunities slip that might come back to haunt us in the end?

As mentioned previously there has been 1 or 2 games where we haven’t been at our best and should’ve beat the teams that we lost to but overall, I think we are in a good position sat in 4th as we have many games in hand that will hopefully bring us up to 2nd if we perform. Then the crucial game for us will be Bicester at home which we are all buzzing for.

It’s no secret that the club has set its sights on promotion to Step 6. In your opinion, what will be the most important factors to getting us to that goal?

The most important things that will get us to step 6 promotion will be for us to

19

keep working hard in training and taking what we do there into the games. We need to go into every game with the correct mindset and take each game as they come.

What is your mindset as a natural goal scorer going into a match, like today’s, against a team who have allowed as many goals as they have? Does that fill you with confidence? Pressure? Excitement?

It doesn’t really matter who we play, each

game is different so I don’t really think about the opposition in terms of how many goals will I get. But hopefully I can score to help us get the 3 points.

Today’s match is the first of 2022. How important is a win today after two tough losses back-to-back, and to start the year?

This game is a must win game for us if we want to be challenging, and we need to put things right after two losses on the bounce.