Toolstation NCEL Division One
Mark Maspero admits he was stunned by FC Humber United’s astonishing 7-1 opening day thrashing of Dronfield Town.
Humber have come crashing back down to earth since due to the poor performance in the midweek 5-2 defeat at Worsbrough Bridge.
However, Humber, many people’s tip for relegation, sent shockwaves through the league with the scale of their victory over Dronfield.
Especially considering the fact they had been walloped 7-1 by Winterton Rangers seven days earlier.
“We were dreading it (at 2pm) because of the fact we had ten missing,” Maspero told Non League Yorkshire.
“We were just thinking ‘don’t be embarrassed’.
“Everything clicked.
“At half-time it was like ‘what’s happened to my team’.
“I was massively thinking ‘am I dreaming’?
“But it was just one of those games where everything clicked and every shot we had went in the back of the net.
“Sometimes you get those games.
“The players enjoyed it.
“They got a bit of stick on Twitter after the pre-season so I think they were more answering their critics and I think that’s what they were more excited about.”
Humber’s pre-season was borderline disastrous and the reason why they had been written off.
The doubters are driving rebranded Humber on, Maspero says. But he agrees the defeat at Worsbrough was a step backwards.
“We have this thing when we’re up against it,” he said.
“We had ten missing on Saturday so we struggled to get 14 but it clicked and it worked for each other.
“When the chips were down on Tuesday there wasn’t the same drive.
“If anyone was getting carried away then (the defeat at Worsbrough) has brought them down to earth and told them it isn’t going to be a breeze every week and that they aren’t going to win 7-1 every week.
“If we do the simple things well and get everybody back I think we can compete.
“I don’t think we will be near the top of the table but hopefully we won’t be near the bottom.”
Humber are next in action on Tuesday night when they host Hall Road Rangers in the NCEL League Cup.
Their next league game is the visit of Glasshoughton Welfare on August 14th.
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.
Our work is playing 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.
