The season starts here (09.09.05)

New signings raise manager’s hopes

A WELL-DESERVED point at Lewes on Saturday ushered in a new dawn for the Magpies, according to boss Dennis Greene.
After five matches which have seen United earn just a point, leaving the numerous doom-merchants which inhabit York Road predicting the demise of both manager and team, the tide turned in east Sussex.
So says Greene: “The season started at Lewes. It was a fantastic result for us.
“What really made a difference was bringing in three new players.
“They all brought with them a winning mentality and that’s important when you’ve had a poor start to the season.
“They really spurred the other players on. Even when we were 1-0 and then 2-1 down, I knew we could come back.
“I’m not sure we had the quality to do that earlier in the season.”
The new boys – Ronnie Fletcher, Olawale Ojelabi and Lee Newman – all performed well on the day and have brought the squad ‘up to spec’ in Greene’s words.
He added: “We now have strength and depth in all departments and we will compete in every match.
“Whether we win lose or draw, we’ll be in every match. The four and five-nillers are behind us. I expect us to start moving up the table from here.”
The second match of Greene’s ‘new season’ kicks-off tomorrow (Saturday) at home to Yeading – a contest the Magpies supremo is confident of taking something from.
He said: “Yeading have a winning mentality at the moment after back-to-back promotions.
“They have started well and are obviously hard to beat.
“But I’ve heard they’ve done well in games and not got the result they deserve.
“Well, let’s hope at York Road on Saturday they play well and don’t get the result they deserve!
“It should be a ding-dong battle.”
The following Saturday Carshalton are the opponents and so Greene sees these next two matches as crucial to the resurrection of his team’s season.
He admitted: “We need four, but ideally six, points from the next two matches. Carshalton should be the weakest team in the division and so if we can beat them we’ll be five points ahead of the bottom two.
“I then expect us to move up into mid-table. I think I have the squad I’ve been looking for, and I want to achieve the sort of form we had at the end of last season.”
Only Robert Traynor is missing for tomorrow’s match, through suspension, and so Greene will be hoping that this new beginning doesn’t turn out to be a false dawn.”

BITING HIS LIP: Dennis Greene keeps a nervous watch over Sunday’s action. Picture by
Nigel Keene.