TIVVY manager Leigh Robinson hailed the Yellows’ 2-0 home victory over Merthyr Town that lifted them out of the Pitching In Southern League Premier Division South as “one of the proudest days since I've been here.”
“It was a good day, a really, really good performance by the team,” said Leigh, who took the managerial reins with assistant Ben Gerring at Ladysmead in November. “Probably the best performance, all round, since I've been here. Certainly one of the proudest days since I've been here because I thought the players today were magnificent, absolutely magnificent ,against a good side on a heavy pitch again.
“I thought the work-rate and the application was second to none and, in difficult conditions, we played some really, really good football.
“During the game, we had to cope with a lot of lads going off injured, a lot of reshuffles. Everyone coped with it fantastically and I think it was a fully deserved win.”
Goals from Javan Wright, in time added on at the end of the first half, and Joe Parker, towards the end of the match, secured Tivvy a third successive win – with a second clean sheet in a row. The streak has seen them climb away from the wrong end of the league table.
Leigh said: “If it takes us out of the relegation zone, all well and good but football moves quick and there are still plenty of games to go, a lot of football to be played, so a good day, but we can't get carried away.”
He puts the timely turnaround in results to “hard work over the time that we have been here. Me and Ben came here at the start of Novembers and we've been training hard since then and trying to put a few things in place, as much as you can mid-season.
“The application of the players is where I think it comes from. As a manager, I want to try to look at the bigger picture and even when we've had slaps in the face, I don't tend to panic too much because I know, behind the scenes, there’s stuff going on. I know the lads are applying themselves and I know we've got some good technical footballers and that things, overall, are going in the right directions, so I try not to panic when we have some bad results here and there.
“A couple of weeks ago, when we lost down here to Totton, behind closed doors, I was critical of quite a few of them and accused them a little bit of talking the talk without walking the walk - the last few weeks, they have happily proved me wrong and long may that continue.”
The Yellows now travel to Dorchester on Easter Monday to try to keep their winning run going.
Leigh said: “Everyone knows that a Saturday-to-Monday turnaround is quick; it is quite punishing, especially at this level of football, where it is so dynamic and so quick. We have got some bruised bodies so we'll have to see where we are and how we recover . We'll have [Marcio] Neves available, which is good, and Vealey [Jack Vela] took the warm-up with no ill effects.
“To be fair, of all the teams that I've managed – and I've managed some good teams – I am happy to say that this group, the fitness of them is that they are easily capable of playing Saturdays and Mondays.
“It's an important game for us and [Dorchester]. I am sure both teams will be looking at it and thinking 'one or two more wins ad we're safe'.
“We said, a few weeks ago, that we didn't want to leave it too late. No-one wants to be under massive pressure in the last few games. We have got to get the job done as quick as we can.
“Today has really helped but we have still got a hard fixture list coming up. Dorchester are one of the form teams; after that we play the champions elect, Chesham, and we've got Gosport who are up there as well.”