Toolstation NCEL Premier Division
Rob Hunter says it has been a “positive season” so far for Knaresborough Town.
The table may not suggest that but Hunter cites the success of his ‘go local’ plan as the reason why he is not disappointed with the campaign.
Everything is going to plan and Hunter has used countless young and local players and the reserves are flying high in a very strong West Yorkshire League Premier Division.
“It has been a positive season for the simple reason it is not just about the first team, it is about the club,” Hunter told Non League Yorkshire.
“There’s two massive positives.
“One is the emergence of (reserve team manager) Baz Littlefair’s reserve team and the massive number of young players we have brought into the club from the Harrogate area.
“I believe we have the vast majority of the best under 20s players in the local area now playing at Knaresborough Town.
“Our reserves will play against Beeston on Saturday with five teenagers in the team and I’ll have three or four teenagers with me in the first team.
“So we have a big squad of young players who are only going to get better with experience.
“Secondly, the emergence of Knaresborough Celtic.
“Last Saturday, four Knaresborough Town reserve team players played for them.
“We can now start to see Knaresborough Celtic improve and start to see their young players play for our reserves and our players playing for them which helps the whole town.
“On top of that it is my first season at the club.
“We started late (in pre-season) and we had the most horrendous situation with injuries ever which you can say it is an excuse.
“But it is a reality that we have struggled with a young small squad with a lot of injuries to our most experienced players – the likes of Gregg Anderson, Dom Creamer, Sean Hunter, Greg Kidd, Sam Cook, people who would walk into most NCEL sides.
“So the emergence of some of these youngsters into the first team such as Ewan Gregson, Cameron Bedford, Lewis Pye, Liam Edmondson, it has been fantastic to see all these lads come into the first team and want more of it.
“If you looked at it as black and white and looked at where we are in the league you’d say ‘it is a bit of a worry’.
“But if you take everything into consideration I think it has been a very successful start to my time at Knaresborough.”
Knaresborough had a very rocky period back in September after losing seven games in all competitions.
Results have continued to be indifferent and they occupy a spot in the bottom six but Hunter believes the situation is improving.
“We have beaten a couple of times by better sides (in the last month) but in the last few weeks we have actually done really well,” he said.
“We beat Bottesford away and that was probably our best performance of the season.
“We narrowly got beat by Brighouse in the County Cup.
“We beat Albion Sports and we drew with Thackley.
“We got beat at Sherwood who I thought were the best team we have played this season.
“We have had quite an improved run of form and I think that does coincide with getting some players back.
“I’m still without Mark Simpson, Jamie Hassall, Sam Cook but we’re getting there now with players.
“I’m seeing an improvement in performances based on the fact we have a few players back.
“When you look at the league table it looks like we are in a real slump and we are not going to frighten anybody.
“I actually believe we’ll still finish mid-table and I think we’ll get some good results in the next month.”
The Sherwood defeat was a bit of a debacle for reasons out of their control.
“The weather was horrendous and we had a nightmare on the way there,” he said.
“There was an incident on the A1 so the team didn’t get there until near kick off.
“The right-back (Alex Heilds) got there 20 minutes before half-time and my left-back Greg Kidd got injured in the warm-up so I had to change my full-backs literally just before kick off.
“We went into the game all over the place and we were 3-0 down at half-time but we won the second half 3-2.
“The first half we were poor but second half we were very good.”
Knaresborough visit second bottom Hemsworth Miners Welfare tomorrow and Hunter admits it is a game they need to avoid defeat in.
“Every game is an important and we need to be going there and getting something out of the game,” he said.
“When you’re playing the teams around you and you don’t want to be dragged into the bottom three then, when you play a team in and around you it is important you get something out of the match.
“Hemsworth will think the same and they’re at home on their 3G pitch.
“I expect a tough match.”