Glossop North End manager Steve Young has told www.vodkatleague.com he has set his sights on achieving the club's highest ever league finishing place this season.
The Hillmens' campaign may not have matched early season expectations, but none the less, Steve is optimistic that his side have turned the corner after a difficult first half of the season.
The recent arrival of strikers Gary Kharas and Andy Hurst at Surrey Street has boosted the squad, and as Steve explained, he had been looking to increase his attacking options since last summer.
"At the end of last season, although it had been a good season for us, we knew we needed two quality strikers, and we lost Dave Hodges over the summer which was a big blow for us. So we came into this campaign knowing that we had to look for three replacements. We've got the strikers now, but we've never properly replaced Hodgie. He had wonderful pace and that caused opposition teams problems, and we've lost that this year.
"That has been a problem because a lot of our game was based around Dave, he was a great outlet for us. People would go on about the diagonal ball we kept playing last season, but we had Dave's pace that could turn defence into attack so quickly".
It's fair to say that the team's early season form was not what most would have expected, and Steve freely admits that the team have not performed to the same standard as last season.
"We came into the season with a bit of pressure on ourselves to be successful, after last season, but really after the first ten games we were out of everything. We were never going to win the league after the start that Newcastle had made, and of course subsequently carried on. So we were looking at ourselves, and probably feeling a bit sorry for ourselves, and all the desire we had started with started to slip away from the players.
"We've still got eight regular first team players and probably twelve squad players in total who played in the Vase run and at Wembley last season, and those players haven't played as well as they did last season. Maybe we over achieved a bit last season, no one will ever know. But the fact is that these players haven't played as well this season as they did last season, and they would all agree with that.
"It's been a difficult season for us, the fans expectation has been a lot higher, ours have as well, and it's just not worked out well for us. I've heard it said that maybe last season the footballing gods were with us, well if we had enough of them last year they've certainly not been with us this year".
The Hillmens' season was probably summed up by their performance in the League Challenge Cup quarter final at Winsford United, which Steve describes as one of the most amazing games of football he has ever seen.
"It got as low as it was going to get at Winsford in the League Challenge Cup, where we went five goals down after half an hour. That summed up our season. Going into the dressing room at half time five goals down, I'm not one who starts throwing cups about or kicking things in the air, but we sat down and talked about what had gone on.
"The players we have here are not stupid footballers, they know if they are playing well or not and they knew it was a bad performance. They didn't set out to play badly but we did, and we got punished every time we made an error. It was the strangest thirty minutes of football I've ever seen, I can't remember anything like it. Every time Winsford went forward they scored, we scored two own goals, and gave them two goals, and you'll never recover from that. We got criticised by the fans and rightly so.
"But the strange thing was that we were the better team towards the end of the first half and for the whole of the second half, and the response I got from the players in the second half summed up their attitude, we made enough chances in the second half to get back into the game, and strange though it may seem it could have been 5-5at the end of the game. But to be five down after half an hour was unbelievable.
"That game has been the story of our season. Very inconsistent at times, outstanding at other times, and we just can't find that middle ground at the moment".
Since then though, Glossop's results have picked and the arrival of twin strikers Kharas and Hurst was a reward for Steve's persistence in tracking both players.
"I've known Gary since he was here in his first spell at the club where he scored a terrific number of goals. He's travelled around a bit, played for a number of clubs at this level and higher over the last five or six years, but I don't think he's ever really settled. He was always someone we desperately wanted to bring back to the club, and I been chasing Andy Hurst for about three seasons as well, and now they are both here.
"We've just got to make sure now that if they are scoring goals at one end, we've got to be making sure we are keeping them out at the other end. We've not had anyone this season who can pick goals up like they can, and if Gary in particular can score as many goals as he did when he was last here, I'll be absolutely delighted".
This corresponding week last season, Glossop were involved in the two legged FA Vase semi final against Chalfont St Peter. Hopes were high that they could enjoy another run in this season's competition, but their interest ended at Barwell in the Third Round, in a game that still rankles with Steve.
"We were robbed at Barwell, the referee was shocking, and the decisions on the day went against us all day long. You can't do anything about that, and no disrespect to Barwell but I thought we deserved to come away from there with a draw at least. I think if we had got them back here it would have been different.
"But Barwell are now in the semi final and they've got Whitley Bay, so they two teams that have beaten us in the Vase in the last two seasons are in the semi final this year.
"I think the draw has favoured Whitley Bay all the way through, I think they have had about five or six home draws. I think Barwell will cause them a problem, they have a great centre forward - who incidentally should never have been on the pitch when he scored against us but there you go - and I have a feeling they will pose Whitley Bay big problems.
"Whitley Bay are a good side, and they deservedly beat us in the final last season, but if there is an area that you might to try and exploit it would be in the centre of the defence, and the Barwell lad is a good player. But really I wouldn't like to call it, maybe home advantage in each game will be the biggest thing, and Barwell's home record has been quite outstanding this season".
Returning to the league campaign, Steve has his sights set on improving on last season's finish.
"We've got 14 games left now, and we have been talking about the remainder of the season with the players. We can get 92 points if we win all our remaining games, and that would be ten more points than we collected last season. If we got up to that sort of total, that's got to guarantee you a top four or top five place.
"The highest this club has ever finished is our fifth place last season, so we are going to try and beat that. We showed in beating Ramsbottom at home last Saturday we can beat other top five sides, so there's no reason why we can't get in there as well".
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