Golcar United’s attacking midfielder Dan Naidole insists while the team have had an OK start to their Northern Counties East League Premier Division season they can do much better.
Naidole, who scored 25 goals last season to help get the Weavers promoted, is also honest in reviewing his own performances so far this campaign.
Golcar currently sit in mid-table and a 1-0 victory over Albion Sports on Tuesday ended a run of three straight defeats. Kayle Price scored the goal.
Naidole was candid in his thoughts on how he has felt the team was performing so far and said: “The season so far is going OK, not great though and I expect us to do a lot better.
“What has let us down at the start of the season is our discipline. The number of red cards we’ve got in matches has made it hard to get back into games. The performances have been good, it’s just that discipline and decision-making that has let us down.
“The win against Albion Sports was so important, we needed to bounce back and kick on. I know it was only a 1-0 win but hopefully we can now build on that going into the next few games.”
Naidole believes the team has stepped up to this league comfortably and now wants to see them kick on and pressure the top teams in the division.
He said: “I think we are coping well with the step up. A lot of the lads have played at this level or higher before. I think the difference with this league is that you must keep focused for 90 minutes.
“Any little mistakes can lead to a goal. You also need to take your chances at this level because, as we have seen, you get punished. I do think we have made the step up well though and we will get stronger.”
Naidole has also reviewed his own performances and says he has room for improvement too.
“My season is going OK but I do expect myself to be doing better,” he said. “I want to score more goals and get more wins. Unfortunately I have had to play in different positions so far because of the red cards we have got. I want to kick on and get those goals and wins.
“My target for the team is to be challenging near the top of the league. I’ve never not been in a side in my whole career that hasn’t done that.
“I want us to be pressuring that top four or five teams, I know we have the players to do it. I have played with lots of these guys before so I know what they bring to the team. It only takes a few wins to build up some momentum and then we’ll be up there.”
The Weavers play in the FA Vase second round qualifying stage this weekend against Barnton. Whilst it’s not an opposition Naidole knows a lot about he is expecting a tough test away from home. He also believes a good cup run could help build momentum in league results.
He said: “The FA Vase is a competition we want to go as far into as possible this season and have a good run. We don’t know much about this weekend’s opponents but we know it’ll be a tough game. All we can do is step on from the win the other night and build some momentum. I think it’d be good as a team and a club to have a run in the cup.”
Meanwhile, joint boss Gav Connor gave his verdict on Tuesday night’s victory and said: “I thought we were back to our best. It was a good solid performance for 90 minutes. Defensively we were sound and we were a constant threat going forward too.
“We needed that win. We know we have a squad that is more than capable of competing at the top end of the table so to get a result gives us the confidence to move on and put the previous results behind us.”
Looking ahead to the cup game he said: “We really want to progress in this competition. It gives us a chance to take our minds off league performances and go to a new ground with the hope of progressing.
“We don’t know too much about them but seeing their League position and previous results we know they’ll be a good team and if we want to progress we will have to be at our best.”
