Darlaston boss Gill staying positive despite 'brutal' league and relishes fixtures he used to 'dream of'
Darlaston Town boss Dean Gill admits life in the Northern One West has been “brutal” so far, but insists his side remain upbeat.
The Citizens recently picked up their second league win of the season with a hard-fought victory over Atherton Collieries. However, defeat to Runcorn Linnets afterwards leaves them second from bottom, five points from safety.
Despite their tough start, Gill is keeping faith in his squad as they host Nantwich Town tomorrow - the first of three difficult fixtures against top-half opposition, with Chasetown and Bury to follow.
Gill said: “It is tough at the moment, I am not going to pretend that we are super cool. It is tough going, the league is brutal and we are still catching up on recruitment from the summer.
“But, we are working extremely hard, the lads are not phased by it and are still really positive. The Atherton result showed that.
"It is still all to play for, nothing has happened yet. Every point is a boost, every good performance we are taking as a positive. This is new territory for us.
“Slowly but surely we are getting somewhere. There is still lots for us to learn, but the product we want, we are getting there.
“We are just not strong enough for some of the teams in this league. The bottom half of the league is where we have got to go and get our results.”
Darlaston’s upcoming run of fixtures may be daunting on paper, but for boss Gill, they represent the kind of challenge he has been craving.
“I started off management 20 years ago dreaming of weeks like this,” Gill added.
“In an ideal world you would be midtable or top half and you can sit back and enjoy the fixtures.
“But, we have got to take something from the games, but it can’t stop us from enjoying it. We have earned the right to be in the league and enjoying these fixtures.
“It’s a huge few weeks, but every fixture is huge at the moment.”
Elsewhere, 19th-placed Sporting Khalsa visit Vauxhall Motors looking to avoid going five league games without a win.
Chasetown travel to high-flyers Avro aiming to maintain their winning start under new boss Jamie Hawkins. The Scholars thrashed Bootle 6-0 last weekend.
Stafford Rangers, who are unbeaten in their last five, welcome basement boys Trafford after a 4-2 victory over Lichfield City in the Walsall Senior Cup midweek.
In the Northern One Midlands, fourth-placed Lichfield visit Basford United, hoping to secure their third consecutive league win.
