Ossett chief wants play-offs push next season 

NPL Division One East 

Ossett United manager Jas Colliver

Jas Colliver wants Ossett United to target a play-offs place next season.

Colliver and Mark Ward replaced Wayne Benn at Christmas and they look set to guide Ossett to a top ten finish.

But when August arrives, the goal will be more lofty.

“I think each season you need to be looking to improve on where you have finished during the season before,” Colliver told Non League Yorkshire.

“The season is not finish but I reckon where we are now is not far away from where we will end up.

“Next season we will be looking to improve on that and improving different aspects of the game.

“Looking at mindsets, players being mentally stronger, looking at more consistency in performances individually and also collectively.

“Coming in half-way through a season it is always difficult to lay the foundations straightaway and there was going to be that level of uneasiness and people being unhappy.

“You have to manage that as well as trying to get results.

“I think we would be silly not to say play-offs push next season.

“We certainly think the club is ready for the league above if needs be.

“When that might come, if it is next season or the season after, then that’s the ambition – to get in the play-offs and the league above as quick as we can.”

Colliver has radically altered the Ossett side since his appointment and more changes are set to happen in the summer.

Ossett won’t be just shipping players in though, the way the side is assembled will be meticulous.

“We know the lads we want to keep,” he said.

“We want to have a base in key areas going into pre-season and we know where we want to strengthen.

“Our strengthening is not going to be done by matter of opinion, whether it is mine or Wardy’s.

“We’re looking deeper.

“We do the analysis at every game and we have the statistics on the individual players and teams and key areas of the pitch.

“We’re using those stats from games to pack up our evidence on the areas we need to strengthen.

“The statistics and analysis side is going to come in really handy in terms of recruitment and it has done so far in areas we have had to look to strengthen.

“We look at where we have been exploited in games and we’re going to use it to our best interests when we’re looking to recruit in the summer.”

Colliver’s reign reached its highest point two weeks ago with the defeat of promotion-chasing Shildon.

Ossett then sunk to a low last week after losing at Bridlington Town. 

Colliver – whose side host Worksop Town tomorrow – says his side are Jekyll and Hyde.

“When all our bodies are there we have a squad that can compete against anyone in the Division,” he said.

“Arguably our best performance of the season was against Shildon two weeks ago.

“We looked comfortable and we looked like a well-organised Non League team.

“We looked hard to beat, hard to breakdown.

“We made good decisions, we went forward when we had to and we also tried to play on a difficult surface.

“It was our most complete performance since we have come in.

“But where we are at is exactly where we are in the Division.

“We never know what we are going to get from the lads which makes it difficult to manage a group of players who you don’t know what they are going to produce game-after-game.

“We have not played poorly and won.

“We have not played really good and lost.

“When we have performed, we have got the result and when we haven’t, we have got beat.

“It is definitely work in progress and there’s four games to go and we’re not writing the season off.

“We want to win as many games as we can.”

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