Leon Sewell believes Hall Road Rangers have built solid foundations on-and-off-the-field in the last six months.
Sewell told Non League Yorkshire in the summer that the club’s finances were a position to cope with a second lockdown and he now feels the club has made constant progress, despite the pandemic.
“I did have a little look at the article we did in the summer and the club has got a true platform now and that is something that (chairman) Darren (Sunley) wanted to try and bring back to the club,” Sewell told Non League Yorkshire.
“In terms of the first team, Darren wanted consistency and the commitment from the players on a match-day and training. I think he had got to the point where he wouldn’t know who was turning up and what type of performance would be put in.
“A lot of the lads are local. Since we spoke (in the summer) I’ve brought in James Piercy and Joe Dale who are both experienced players who wouldn’t have seen associated with Hall Road over the last two or three years.
“Joe Dale has made a name for himself scoring goals and James Piercy has made a name for himself as the captain of North Ferriby and a stringent centre-half.
“For me, our reputation has doubled, if not tripled in terms of recognition from people being aware what we’re doing. We’re in a position where we are solid, steady and that’s replicating on the pitch and off it.
“Anybody who comes down to Harworth Park pays compliments to how well we are doing and that’s not just the first team. That’s the development team, the junior section, our tenants in Hull City Ladies.
“I think Darren would be relatively happy with how things are. We’re financially stable despite two lockdowns and we’ve done the work that needed to be done to make sure we’re Covid-safe.
“I would go so far to say things are run pretty well on the pitch and off the pitch. That’s testament to everyone involved, that’s player, manager, volunteer, committee member, chairman, spectator. Everyone is pulling in the right direction.”
Sewell’s ‘first season’ (cut short by the pandemic) was difficult. Hall Road struggled for points initially and only began climbing the table after Christmas.
Fast forward to today and Hall Road are eighth in the Toolstation NCEL Division One table after ten games – five points from the promotion places. But Sewell has mixed feelings.
“I’m quite positive about how we have started, but it could have gone better,” he said.
“I think we could have got a couple more points under our belts. We drew with Parkgate at home and we should have won. I think the only game where we haven’t given an account of ourselves is Ferriby away. We were beating Hallam 2-0 at half-time and we missed chances.
“The stand-out moments go back to our ethos of consistency and commitment. When you look at the line-ups they have all been pretty much the same team. That consistency has helped massively and we’ve had some good performances.
“Everyone has done well in one game or another. (Richard Medcalf) Meddy won the (Non League Yorkshire) player of the month and for a lad who is 35, it is testament to himself. We played Swallownest and Jody (Barford) kept a clean sheet and saved a penalty.
“Then you’ve got Alex Knaggs and James Piercy at the back, two leaders in themselves. Conner Harman in midfield scored two goals against Brigg. Fair play to all the lads because they have all stepped up and pushed one another.
“It is 100% leaps and bounds better than last season when it was a transition year as we only inherited one player (Conner Harman) from the previous season. We’re definitely in a stronger position now than we were this time last year. If it was a school report you’d probably say it was a B+.”
Sewell has also paid tribute to Hall Road’s long-serving secretary Alan Chaplin who has temporarily stood aside.
“Alan’s taken a sabbatical,” he said.
“He’s being involved with the club for years and years, but unfortunately because of Covid he has to be careful where he goes and who he’s with.
“He’s got his own health and his wife’s health to protect. For me Alan has been great since I took over. He’ll be missed, but everyone is grateful for the work he has put in during the last 40 years, if not longer.
“Hopefully when things calm down and restrictions loosen we’ll see Alan back.”
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. When we properly 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.