Manager worked wonders with a small budget, says chairman (From Winsford Guardian)

Manager worked wonders with a small budget, says chairman

9:27am Thursday 17th May 2012 in Sport

CHAIRMAN Mark Loveless says Winsford’s players surpassed his own expectations on the pitch this season.

He told the Guardian that Blues’ fine finish to the campaign, when they won nine of their last 12 Premier Division matches to finish seventh, had taken him by surprise.

“I think we overachieved,” he said.

“The team and the manager deserve credit for that because they bounced back from a poor run of results at the turn of the year.”

Winsford topped the table in September after a starting sequence that yielded five wins from their opening seven encounters, attracting attention to their in-form players.

The departure of one or two, plus an injury to captain Lee Jones, led to a slump between November and January that saw them fail to win in eight successive outings.

Loveless said: “We were flying at the start.

“Then we started to lose players, which had an impact on form.

“We’d have loved to keep everybody, but we didn’t have the funds to do that on the crowds we get.

“Things got tougher on the pitch after that.”

He saved special praise for manager Ian Street, who guided Blues to third place last term following the departure of Chris Willcock.

Seventh this time around still marks the second best finish in the North West Counties League top tier since the club was promoted from Division Two in 2007.

“Ian has done a great job,” said Loveless.

“He’s worked wonders with a small budget; it’s been great to see local lads playing in the side, which I know the fans appreciate.

“The time and effort he puts in is incredible and I’d love him to stay and see if he can take us forward again.”