Toolstation NCEL Premier Division
Rizwan Mohammed says Albion Sports are full of confidence and showing real togetherness.
Mohammed – whose side travel to Staveley Miners Welfare this afternoon – has enjoyed a fairytale start to life in the Albion dugout after winning three out of his four games so far in charge.
The two league wins have lifted them away from the relegation zone and Mohammed is thrilled with how his team is gelling.
“The results have massively lifted the club,” Mohammed told Non League Yorkshire.
“We had our Christmas last weekend and for me it was important the lads had a good bonding session.
“The atmosphere and feeling around the club is absolutely massive.
“I had a couple of friends come and they said the culture we have created looks amazing.
“The players feel it and even in the group chats, the feeling around the place is so much better.
“When the team morale is so high even though we are quite low in the table I feel that will get us results because everybody will play for each other.”
Mohammed suffered his first defeat last week after Garforth Town scored a 95th minute penalty to nick a 1-0 victory.
“It was quite an even game and I thought we were a bit unlucky,” he said.
“It sometimes happens when you get a couple of decisions that don’t go your way and there were one-or-two decisions that I was quite frustrated about.
“Even the penalty in the 95th minute it hurt even more when a couple of the Garforth lads said it was outside the box.
“I guess it happens in football.
“So they got a 95th minute winner from the penalty but from where we were a few weeks ago it is a massive improvement and I was more gutted for the lads.
“They worked their socks off and it was quite an even game until that.
“It shows how far we have come.
“It is not entirely down to me, it has been a collective effort.
“Bringing in (first team coach) Greg (Beswick) has relieved a lot of duties from me and he has been a very good addition.
“I couldn’t have done it without the guys around.
“Aran has brought a lot, such as recruitment and knowledge of the teams in this Division.”
Although the outlook looks brighter for Albion, Mohammed insists there is still work to do.
“You look at Athersley and they have been losing by one goal or two and are getting stronger,” he said.
“I know Hemsworth have may some good signings and they can play a result out of the bag.
“The teams are around us are quite strong.
“The difficultly for us is that the gap between us and the teams above us was quite significant when I first took over.
“I said to myself that to close the gap in December would be a big bonus.
“But we’re doing really well at the moment and we have to continue to keep working to close the gap.
“I don’t want to be looking behind.
“I want to keep looking in front.”
New signing Amir Berchill is set to make his debut after last week’s FA WholeGame debacle which meant Albion did not play him against Garforth.
The youngster was sent off whilst playing for Nostell Miners Welfare under 23s in mid-October.
He served a three game ban for the Ammers and has played for them since but the suspension remained on the system until this week.
Albion were unable to receive clear advice from anyone in authority and it meant Berchill was unable to play – and Mohammed was unimpressed.
“We had planned to play but because of the error on the WholeGame system and the mix-up we didn’t,” he said.
“All day on the Friday we tried to ring the Sheffield FA and we couldn’t get through to them.
“Our secretary sent numerous emails and we were ringing around like absolute headless chickens to try and sort it out.
“I’ve rung people who are ex-referees who have worked in the disciplinary departments just to get some advice and they were laughing about because it was an absolute s***show.
“We were basically told ‘based on the information you have provided he is eligible but don’t take my word for it because anything could happen’.
“It was like ‘he can play but we don’t want to take responsibility if anything happens’.
“We thought it wasn’t worth risking it.”