The last two weeks have been the toughest of Rob Hunter’s (left) time in football
Rob Hunter insists the Toolstation NCEL Premier Division top ten isn’t out of reach for his threadbare Glasshoughton Welfare side just yet, writes James Grayson (Twitter: @jamesAgrayson).
Glasshoughton have hit a wall and are struggling to even field a side because of player availability. Twelve players are currently side-lined for Welfare for a variety of reasons.
Joel Freestone, Greig McGrory, Dave Ward are long-term injury casualties while Reece Chappell has also been missing recently because of injury.
Captain Darrell Young and Matthew Bugg are suspended, while Steve Edwards, Kieron Corley, Tim Curtis, Dan McDaid and Dalton Harris are unavailable.
John Hirst has moved to Australia and Freddie Swales is going back shortly to University in Newcastle.
The team’s selection issues have influenced their recent results and has left them 11 points off the top ten. Hunter, who is desperately trying to add to his squad, has always said his aim was a top ten finish and he believes it can still be achieved.
“Never say never because we can easily get three or four players back with three or four new players coming in over the next few weeks,” he said.
“Last season we finished with nine wins out of the final ten games and what’s to say we go on a run like that from February. Mark (Smitheringale) are the type of guys who will work as hard as we can to get new players into the club.
“We will be training every single Thursday night and players will getting fined if they don’t turn up. We will getting as well-organised as we can and ensure that we get stability back as quickly as possible. Hopefully we will start to compete again at this level.
“In the last two or three games we have not been competitive and the chairman Phil Riding for his part has always said ‘Rob, look if you’re competitive I’ll be happy’. If I was him I would be a little bit upset.”
Glasshoughton Welfare striker Dalton Harris is currently unavailable
The 8-0 defeat to Worksop Parramore was the straw which broke the camels’ back for Hunter.
Glasshoughton could only field ten players due to the availability problems and Hunter says Welfare’s current issues show how hard it is being a manager in the NCEL.
“I thought we had a reasonable squad up until October or November and one big enough to compete in the top eight or nine in this league,” he said.
“We now have three long-term injuries. Dalton Harris has gone away for six weeks because he’s over here with University. John Hirst has gone travelling and we have two players suspended for three weeks and five weeks.
“Matty Bugg is suspended because he played while suspended when he was at Liversedge. It has been so tough and a lot of small clubs at this level I think they go through this at some point.
“This has been definitely the toughest two weeks of my football life.
“It is very difficult to manage in this league. When you’re at a club like Glasshoughton the most upsetting thing I’ve had is that although we do have a reserve team and an under 19s, over the last two weeks they have not had a single player available for the first team for several different reasons.
“I am sure this happens at other clubs, but when you only have a squad of 15 or 16 and a few players are unavailable you could be down to nine or ten men.
“If you’re reserves and under 19s can’t help you put a team out for an away game on a Saturday then you are in a mess as a club.”
Hunter is hoping to add to his squad this week ahead of a daunting trip to Retford United and he admits he has plenty of targets.
“I’ve been talking to Billy Miller at Harrogate Railway and there are a couple of our players I can get from him,” he said.
“I’ve put seven days’ notice in for three different players in the last week and I’ve also spoken to another player who may be available in two weeks’ time.
“There are six players who potentially could come here in the next two weeks. I’m going to be working as hard as I can over the next fortnight to ensure that I have 16 players available for Retford next week and the games following that.”