Barton Town Old Boys manager Dave Anderson says his team will be more prepared going into the season than they were 12 months ago
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Barton Town Old Boys will not make the mistake they made 12 months ago, according to manager Dave Anderson.
Barton finished second in the Toolstation NCEL Premier Division – the club’s greatest ever league standing – but Anderson claims the title was lost because of a bad start.
The Hull-based side lost their two opening fixtures and were never really considered a good bet for the title until they embarked on a 23-match unbeaten run in the third month of the campaign.
Anderson admits his side weren’t ready after their pre-season schedule and he told Non League Yorkshire: “This time last year pre-season was difficult and we went to Retford for the first game of the (league) season with 13 or 14 players and ended up getting beat 5-1.
“We then got beat 2-1 at Brid in midweek. We started really poorly and it is a lesson learnt.
“We have a good core to work with now. We have 21 players and it is just a case of gelling them together.
“Last year we picked a few injuries early on. This year will only lose Ash Latimer who is getting married. We will have a good 17 or 18 players to choose from.
“It took us four or five weeks to get a settled side last season.
“We want to be in a situation where we can be stronger in a league that will be a lot stronger as well.
“Last year there was almost two or three gimmes and I don’t think there will be (this season).
“We’re under the radar because everyone is talking about Shaw Lane, Handsworth, Taddy.
“From a monetary point of view we can’t compete with them sort of guys.
“We’ll let them fight it out between themselves and continue in our merry way and look to improve and consolidate on what we did last season.”
Barton’s second place finish was a fine achievement for a club that only eight years ago were playing in the Central Midlands League.
Anderson arrived in 2010 to guide them from Division One into the Premier Division in 2011 – a season most notable in West Yorkshire for Yorkshire Amateur’s record third place finish.
In their first season in the Premier, Barton comfortably adjusted to life in the NCEL’s top tier and earned 11th spot.
And while Barton might have been the runners-up last season, Anderson is not letting success go to Barton heads.
“The frustrating thing from my point of view is that we’ve only been here four years and everyone thinks we’re established,” he added.
“The main aim for the club is to be an established top six side and that’s what we want to do.
“The year before we finished eighth and to finish second was a great achievement.
“We know we have to work hard this year because I think we caught a lot of teams by surprise last season.
“This year we have to be a lot better and structured. Against Gainsborough we played a system, we played another against Harworth and we will another system tomorrow so we have a plan A, plan B and plan C and that’s important.”