Action from Garforth Town 2-0 Brigg Town
They say breakfast is the most important meal of the day and that certainly proved the case for Garforth Town on Saturday.
Manager Adrian Costello brought his players in at 12:30 on the day of their game against Brigg Town at the J.S White & Co. Community Stadium.
This gave Costello the opportunity to spend more time with the group and to address a number of tactical pointers that he believed had let the Miners down in recent games.
The York City lead development phase coach saw the fruitful impact of the breakfast meeting in his side’s 2-0 success against Brigg, their first in the Toolstation NCEL Premier Division under his stewardship.
Costello told Non League Yorkshire: “We brought the lads in early and had breakfast.
“We got all the players in, we got some cereal, porridge, toast. You name it, we brought it in today.
“If you treat them like professionals we believe they will respond as such.
“We discussed defending corners and set pieces, neither of which we’ve been particularly good at, and last week we got twelve corners in the second half and didn’t look like scoring, so we discussed that as well.
“From that discussion, if you take it into today, the first corner we got, we scored. The second corner we were unlucky not to score.
“I’m over the moon that we kept a clean sheet. As a squad of fifteen, we were immense today.”
Securing suitable training times and facilities has been a vexed question for Town of late, but Costello explained that their search has proved fruitful.
“This Monday will be the first of our regular training sessions” he added.
“We’ve struggled to get a venue, now we’ve got one. It will be every week, on the same day and at the same time.
“We’ve still got a lot to do on the training ground and we will be able to put things right there.
“It’s simply moving counters on a board and explaining to players the gaps between full-backs and centre-halves, getting a picture in their mind on a pitch.”
The ex-policeman came into the job at Garforth with recruitment problems, which he has largely solved.
He is not the type to rest on his laurels, though, and is out to bolster his squad depth still further.
“I’m happier we’ve got a squad of players that can perform” Costello continued.
“I still want one or two more, I’ve got one or two positions I want to strengthen in.
“This is to become part of the squad, it doesn’t mean I will bring someone in to replace the guys we’ve got.
“We’ve got a natural replacement for every position bar two, and we want that two filled.
“I’ve only got one goalkeeper, if Ben was to be injured, or ill, I’m going to struggle.
“I’m going to look for a couple of additional players, not replacements, but someone to complement our squad.”
Garforth are due to visit Ossett Albion in the West Riding County Cup third round tomorrow night.