“We are only halfway there”, said 1874 Northwich boss Chris Herbert, as his side now look to prepare for arguably one of the most important matches in the club’s history to date, as they travel to an in-form Shifnal Town this coming Saturday.
It took until the 98th minute for 1874 to set up a date with Shifnal Town, as club record appearance maker, Matt Woolley, headed in a Tom Morris cross, sparking wild celebrations from the hundreds of Northwich fans that had made the journey to Atherstone. After a season marred with injuries, the ’74 boss was delighted for ‘Mr 1874’ Woolley to be the one to send the side to the play-off final.
“It’s been so big for us to get Woolley back, he has been injured a lot this season, but testament to the lad, he has never given up and made sure he has kept around it.”
“In the play-offs, we knew how big his experience would be, and he got his rewards Saturday. Woolley is great around the place, as well as what he can do on the pitch and it definitely gives the lads a boost having him back in the squad; you can see by the celebrations how much it meant to us all having him score the goal.”
“It was a gritty performance against a very good side; I thought the lads at back Jack Atkinson in goal, Tom Morris, Mark Jones, Niall Osborne and Matty Fenton were superb. Up top they have two of the best strikers in the league, who work tirelessly in Lewis Collins and Ryan Harkin and between them both they have scored over 50 goals, so to keep a clean sheet was particularly pleasing.”
“The lads left everything on the pitch, and it will have to be exactly the same on Saturday. We are only halfway there, let’s not forget that, and we now prepare for Shifnal Town, as we did for Atherstone Town and leave no stone unturned.”
Attention now turns to the play-off final on Saturday for Herbert’s men, with a tricky task ahead to topple: a superb Shifnal side in their own patch. The ’74 boss was full of praise for his counterparts ahead of facing off this weekend.
“I’ve got nothing but respect for Shifnal Town, Connor Patterson (Manager) has done an amazing job there, they had a good run in the FA cup and then went from strength to strength pushing up the league and playing the best football in the league. They don’t concede many and going forward they have pace, Kyle Bennett in midfield has been stand out in the league for them in midfield; these play-offs are very tough and if you can come through the two games with promotion then you have earnt it.”
“Our task is arguably made a lot harder with the news that Matty Fenton will more than likely miss Saturday; he is very sore and swollen so he will be unable to take part.”
“It’s tough to replace your captain and Matty is so influential to us, it’s a huge blow, and it will be a big lift for Shifnal. We need to keep positive, but we have leaders to step in and lead us.”
“Every game is big for me, if we win it will be right up there in my achievements in football management, especially with this season being a rebuild season, we have not really settled as quick as we wanted, but these lads don’t give up; we know we needed two big cup final performances, but this game is as tough as we can get.”
“4-3-3 has been strong against them, so we will look at what we feel suits this fixture, we can play different shapes with the lads we have, so we will work on things tonight (Tuesday) and Thursday at training to make sure we are at our best, both on and off the pitch.”
“On Saturday, we will need our fans more than ever. The passion, the togetherness, and obviously the celebrations, it was all there to see on Saturday, however, we are only halfway there and now we visit the best footballing side in the league in their back yard.”
“We need to make it all about us, and that means the fans need to give us one more huge push and get everyone turning up in their droves. We need the same performance from the fans as Saturday and I would urge the town of Northwich to make the journey down and support your team as we look to make our own piece of history for this fantastic club.”