Happy Dray

ROB Dray has been in charge of Tiverton Town for a whirlwind two months.

Eleven games – six of them away – including a stamina-sapping three in six days across the busy Christmas period only tells part of the tale.

Introducing new concepts, changing mindsets, blending his squad of part-timers, creating the right setting to play and laying foundations for the future are just some of the tasks he is undertaking, all the while balancing these mid-to-long-term goals with the more immediate challenge of keeping Tivvy in the Pitching In Southern League Premier Division South.

Everything considered, there are reasons why Yellows' current league position should not be the only criteria for judging the efficacy of the Dray regime. There are other, less easily measurable, signs of gradual, but permanent, progress.

Rob said: "The first – and biggest – thing is that the players are actually smiling now. Getting the environment right was always massive for me. So we we're getting the environment right.

"From that, we're getting the shape, the understanding, being hard to beat – these are the first things that we have to do. 

"There is still lots to do, but we're slowly finding our way; the players are slowly understanding where we are with everything. We keep trying to tick off a box here and there, and then add things into the mix like low risk in our half, high risk in the opposition half; getting our flair players to do what they need to do in the opposition half and being risky in that half. 

"All those really basic non-talent required things are coming together now. So – yes – I can see progress, and the lads can see progress and they've got good belief, which is massive."

it is an unavoidable fact that everyone at the Ian Moorcroft Stadium this season will be judged by the team's final league position, and if Rob has one eye on the environment in which his squad exists, the other is firmly on what might be needed to get out and stay out of the division's bottom four.

He said: "It is quite difficult to pinpoint stuff because it's quite an open league. What I will say is anybody can beat anybody. We draw with Merthyr and we lost narrowly to Totton, who are going to be the two best sides in the league.

"Bar the Dorchester game, which was which was a shambles and we were terrible, we have been in every game. 

"If we pick up approximately a point a game, you aren't going to be far off it. I think five draws and half a dozen wins will keep you up – but will it be a bit higher because everybody beats each other? If everybody's beating everybody, then it just means the average points goes up.

"We'll keep chipping away. We need to start getting a few wins now. We've got some of the draws that we wanted and we need we need a few three-points now."

Given the immediacy of football in general and Tivvy's position in particular, it is heartening to hear that Rob has still found time and energy to immerse himself in the ambitious future plans recently outlined by the club's Executive Committee, central to which is the introduction of a 3G pitch in the summer.

"The people have been really good," said Rob, "and the vision for next season is really good.

"I've got a really good backroom staff. The lads who been have bought in have been really, really good. And we probably haven't had the results that we deserved, if I'm being honest, but that's football."