UNDER 23S AIMING HIGH IN THEIR FIRST SEASON
Manager Godfrey Torto is full of praise for his players and staff so far, and gives his thoughts ahead of their game today: ‘We want to win the league’.
Our U23 team return to league action against Flackwell Heath at The Peter Rogers Family Stadium tomorrow, and will be confident of following up on last weekend’s excellent 3-0 victory over Woking in the Suburban League Shield.
Torto was delighted with his team’s all round display, which was their first game after an extended break. ‘After five weeks off, I was very happy with the performance against a well drilled Woking side, who have a full time academy. The fitness levels of the players were really high and they kept going until the last minute, pushing for more goals even when we were 3-0 up’. Ahead of the visit of Flackwell he added, ‘Tomorrow is a big game for us. We beat them 4-0 the first time we played them when they were top of the league, but lost 3-1 to them the following week as the experience of their older players showed. We also had a couple of players sent off that day and the boys need to learn from that and show the discipline required’.
‘Looking at the season so far, I’m very pleased given we didn’t have a pre-season and only had one training session before the first game. We’ve played games with ten men and only one sub, so the run we have been on has been fantastic. The boys have done brilliantly, Andre Scarlett (Assistant Manager) has been exceptional and we’ve had Daniel Dyer helping us too’.
In their first season, the Under 23s currently sit third in the Suburban League Central Division, but have five games in hand over second place Westfield, and Torto is aiming high. ‘We want to win the league, regardless of it being our first season. I don’t mind being bold in saying that. We’ve had a lot of obstacles to overcome but we are going to keep pushing the players so they keep developing and to hopefully progress to the first team’.
‘There are some talented players in the squad and if there’s a first team away game that fans can’t get to, it would be great if they can come to support the boys. The support we’ve had so far has meant a lot and it has been nice for the players and coaches to interact with the fans. Steve Baker has also given us a lot of support and encouragement’.
For those who can’t make it to Gosport, tomorrow’s game is a 3pm kick off at The Peter Rogers Family Stadium and is FREE ENTRY for all supporters.