North West Counties League First Division North
Lee Ashforth admits Campion are finding life tough in the North West Counties League after a disappointing opening month.
Campion host high-flying AFC Blackpool on Friday night, bidding to pull out of the bottom two.
Campion’s season so far has had a few false dawns as their only league victory – the defeat of Cleator Moor – failed to spark an expected surge of wins.
The Bank Holiday Monday defeat at local rivals Steeton summed their current form up and joint manager Ashforth is a frustrated man.
“We have a few players who aren’t fit enough going through the motions and we always said we would review it at the end of August and that’s what we are going to have to do,” Ashforth told Non League Yorkshire.
“We have four points from six games and it is not good enough.
“I look at the position Selby were in before the pandemic.
“They were flying and suddenly they were down near the bottom.
“They have turned it around and are doing well in their league.
“We need to look at where we can go but it is frustrating and disappointing in equal measures at the minute.
“There has been certain performances where you think we’re getting there like the Cleator Moor first half where we were 3-0 up at half-time.
“We played particularly well in the Bury game.
“We also did well in the two FA Cup games.
“But then we’re not getting over the line and not getting results and let’s be honest July and August have been disappointing.
“We’re backs to the wall and we’re sat in the bottom two and we suddenly need to get some results from somewhere.”
The difficulties began when several players unexpectedly left at an awkward point of pre-season.
It meant Campion were forced to rebuild their squad.
Ultimately the side aren’t gelling just yet and one immediate possible solution to the situation would be to launch a mass recruitment drive.
However, although open to new signings, Ashforth is not committing to wholesale changes.
“We gave them August to get themselves fit which sounds strange but because of pre-season and the players coming in late we were never going to be fit enough,” he said.
“We spoke to the players (after the Steeton game) and they have to look long and hard at each other and realise we have to have a desire to win football matches.
“At the minute I don’t think we have that desire.
“The two or three sides we have had at Campion in recent seasons have always had that desire and commitment to go win games.
“I’m not speaking out of turn and I’m not telling Non League Yorkshire that the players aren’t good enough because I think they are good enough.
“But they need to have the desire and we can’t give them that.
“I’ve played for a lot of managers who have said ‘right we’re going to get new players’.
“I’m not going to be that manager.
“If we find players we will bring them in if they are good enough.
“But I think it is unfair to say to players we are bringing people in because if we spend the next two weeks looking and we don’t bring anyone in we’ll look stupid.”
Campion had hoped to mount a promotion bid but that is now the furthest thought for Ashforth and James Bicknell going into Friday’s night match.
“We’re second bottom and Blackpool are near the top of the league,” he said.
“We have to be honest we have four points from six games so we are a long way behind.
“We’re going to have to go on one hell of a run to get up there.
“At the minute it is still work in progress so we’re not ready to hit the ground running.”
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.