TALKING POINTS

Luke Hunter

Luke discusses a return to winning ways.

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WOTTON WOOL

I adore watching Paul Wotton in the dugout, he knows when to smash the drums and when to fine tune the strings; too much one way or the other and you risk demoralising the team or wrapping them in cotton wool. He nails the middle ground and wraps them in Wotton wool – which I suspect would be a mixture of barbed wire and feathers. PW is very good at adjusting the throttle and not only reacts to what is happening in front of him, but gets the team to as well – two examples (Mussa and Carson) to follow. I found myself thinking two relevant thoughts worthy of a mention yesterday – “I would run through brick walls for that man” and “we would have lost that last season” – both are testament to the ‘relentless’ mantra that appears to be pulsing through the club at the moment and he deserves credit for embodying that.

HAMON RAISES THE STAKES

The goalkeeper is widely regarded as the hardest position on the pitch – it demands mental resilience, nerve and fortitude. James Hamon has not been immune to criticism this season and I think that only further amplifies the need for those characteristics. He deserves a huge amount of credit for his performance yesterday, especially in that context – the save at the start of the second half was biblical and as important as the goals that would follow at the other end; he was quick off his line and composed when it was needed. We boast the second best defence in the National League South now, and that is in no small part to Hamon’s ability to make big saves at big moments – he is a very competent shot stopper and you would be silly to bet against him one-on-one. Performances like that set a high bar and I really hope he can finish this season strongly and with the fewest goals-against in NLS.

KEEP THE CAR RUNNING

A game of two halves for Matty Carson – he is talented and I’m not convinced 5 at the back always gets the best out him – but it was a tough start with a few early mistakes and he perhaps most embodied our lack of confidence following a tricky couple of weeks. A comforting nudge from Hamon and something about a change of ends at half-time seemed to completely rejuvenate him and he grew to find the form that had us all talking early in the season. I like Carson most when he gets his head down and runs at the full-back and with the helpful direction of PW from the Bristows’ touchline he did that time and again through the second half; he has a wicked turn of pace and delicious cross when he gets in the right position – we need him in those positions more often.

(Instrumental) MUSSA!

One of the most endearing things about this squad is our strength in depth – for as long as I can remember we haven’t had multi-faceted options off the bench, players who are actually capable of changing matches. Given he had such a ludicrously short timeframe to build his team, PW did a fantastic job in this regard and Mussa perfectly encapsulates that versatility. Not every game will suit him to start, but he is such a powerful asset from the bench in those circumstances you could see the game swing with his introduction. One of Mussa’s best attributes is his ability to operate in tight situations and you could see from the start why Eastbourne are where they are – they’re very well drilled and get men behind the ball quickly – Mussa was able to drift, find space and cause havoc. His goal was the cherry on the cake.

C-O-N-F-I-D-E-N-C-E

Confidence is very important to this team – perhaps that is down to the youthfulness of the players, or so many of them being TUFC freshers, or perhaps it is just an inherent characteristic of the players that we have signed. In any case, it feels very precious and what I really hope is the last few weeks have constituted our ‘blip’ and we stride confidently onwards into the final quarter of the season… whatever happens, there are sixteen cup finals between now and the end of April and we need to be going into every single one with the belief that we can win and haul ourselves out of this division… the biggest test arguably lies on Tuesday night, but if we take the last 20 minutes of Eastbourne into that as well, we’ll be there or thereabouts.

COYY – LUKE

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