Lee Ashforth has saluted the entire Campion squad for getting through a tricky period with a series of wins.
Prior to the Saturday’s 2-0 defeat to Toolstation NCEL Division One promotion rivals North Ferriby, Campion had made a perfect start to the campaign with seven straight league wins.
There’s plenty to be positive about as the most recent victories were achieved with a mounting injury list rearing its ugly head in the background.
“We’ve picked up a few injuries and a suspension which is the negative, but the players who have come in have come in and done really well which shows we have strength-in-depth,” Ashforth told Non League Yorkshire.
“We seem to have picked up quite a few injuries, but the lads who have been on the bench have been brilliant. We have Mohammed Qasim due back, Marcus Day due back, Ben Bodle due back after a suspension so they are all good players who are coming back into the squad.
“But we feel the lads who have come in have took their chance and done really well in their absence. We’ve been playing Andy McCreadie upfront for the last few games and he’s a centre-back. We started him against Swallownest and he bagged a couple and then had a couple of assists against Harrogate.
“We feel we have a really good squad, a really good togetherness and I know a lot of managers say that, but we really do have a good group of players. They are all showing a great attitude. We don’t have any lads who are a pain in the backside. They are all really good lads and I’m sure we’ll bounce back this month and pick up some good results again.
“We’ve had an unbelievable start, winning seven out of seven is massive. I stand by it; if you get two points a game average you’ll be up there competing and I think there is five teams that are on two points a game.
“As the season pans out if you are still on two points a game you’d expect to be in the top four. That will be always our target and we have 21 points from eight games so we are five points ahead of our target at the moment. That’s what we have to keep our eye on and we can’t get overexcited about winning or losing games.”
Emley now sit at the top of the pile and could go five points clear if they win at Swallownest 24 hours before Campion are due to host Hall Road Rangers.
The focus for Ashforth is seeing his and James Bicknell’s side show bouncebackability.
“We lost Sunderland Ryhope and we bounced back the week after and that’s important because you don’t want to be losing two or three games on the trot,” he said.
“That’s how teams catch up with you and go past you. It is important that we bounce back on Wednesday. Hall Road are a really good side and we would have preferred an easier fixture going into Wednesday.
“It will be really tough and they’ve made some really good signings this year and they’re doing well. Emley only just beat them on Saturday. I’ve exchanged a few texts with (Emley manager) Richard Tracey who said how well they did and said they were a good side.”
Ferriby’s victory in Bradford moved them to within two points of Campion and Ashforth tips the former Conference club to be the team to watch.
“You’re massively disappointed because we expect to be up there competing with your North Ferriby’s, Hallam’s, Skegness and competing to win the league,” he said.
“We came off second best. They were better than us on the day. They played like a team who couldn’t afford to lose the game.
“We’ve watched a few of the teams now. We’ve watched Emley, Skegness and I just think because of the history of the club and where they’ve been, Ferriby are the team everyone will want to beat.
“I think Ferriby will be up there competing for the title and you’ve got to finish above them if you want to win the league.”
If you have enjoyed reading Non League Yorkshire over the past few months, please consider making a donation to the not-for-profit organisation NLY Community Sport which provides sport for children and adults with disabilities and learning difficulties. CLICK HERE to visit the JustGiving page. There is a video at the bottom of the page showing our work.
NLY Community Sport, run by James Grayson and Connor Rollinson, has always had combatting social isolation at the top of our objectives when running our Disability Football teams. As we slowly return to ‘action’, our work will play an important role in reintroducing our players, who have disabilities and learning difficulties, back into society.
We have six teams, a mixture of Junior and Adult teams – Nostell MW DFC, Pontefract Pirates, Selby Disability Football Club and the South Yorkshire Superheroes (Barnsley) – across Yorkshire.
We have enjoyed great success over the past three years. Several of our players have represented Mencap GB in Geneva, including Billy Hobson from Selby and Greg Smith, whose story is quite inspiring.
You can learn more about the organisation HERE and on our Facebook page.
Watch the video below to see highlights from our three years as an organisation. The video was produced for our players at the end of March to remind them of good memories from the last three years.