Prescot Cables manager Steven Daley insists they mustn’t get ahead of themselves after finishing in the top half of the table.
The Pesky Bulls improved on their position last season after remaining in the Northern Premier League West by the skin of their teeth via Points Per Game.
This season has been up and down for the Joseph Russell Stadium side after changing managers midway through the campaign with Daley taking over.
His time in charge wasn’t short of problems after enduring injury issues but they managed to recruit well and finish the season strong. They rounded off their campaign with a commanding 4-0 win over Hanley Town.
“There’s a lot of work for us to do, to come in and work with the defence, we haven’t had as much time to work on what we wanted to in terms of a style of play,” Daley said speaking to Off The Park.
“We’ve got good footballers who want to get the ball down and play but finishing the season off strong is good, especially with the Macclesfield result, on another day we come away with three points. Saturday topped it off, I thought we were outstanding, to a man they were brilliant and it stands us in good stead for next season.”
Daley took charge amid a chaotic period behind the scenes for Cables following the resignation of Kevin Lynch just days before their clash with Widnes.
The former Page Celtic manager was installed in the post in his first role at this level. Between February and April, Cables were beaten four times as they broke into the top half of the division.
The Bulls boss described his opening games as “difficult”, he added: “It was difficult when we first took over. We had to regroup, steady the ship, the injuries we had were a massive factor in the first couple of games.
“Losing Jack [Goodwin] who is one of your best players, we lost him on the morning of the Widnes game, Tom Dean pulls up in the warm-up so it’s not ideal. Right from then, we had to rally together and then recruit well, we gelled the group together and they’ve responded fantastically.
“We’ve got a group now who are all striving for the same thing and it showed the last couple of performances, the team spirit and it showed what we can actually do. It’s been pleasing in the end but it was a difficult start.
“If you go from where we was last season then you’ve got to be over the moon to finish ninth,” he continued. “We stayed up by the skin of our teeth so to go into it this year, it’s a great achievement, we started well but then had that dip.
“I come in and it was a difficult time with injuries so I think on reflection, we’re pleased that we finished ninth, although it could’ve been slightly better, there’s some results where we felt that we should’ve won or seen the games out but overall, we’re quite pleased.
“What we can’t do is get ahead of ourselves because there’s a lot of work going on at the club on and off the field. Our expectations are to start strong, the squad seems to be quite settled now, we’ll add a couple in the summer just to keep competition for places alive and we’ll be looking to kick on again.”
[Featured image: Stanley Kostrzewski]
