CLIVE McNELLY is hoping Wokingham and Emmbrook can make Lowther Road “a fortress” after shocking Woodley United to claim their first home win of the season.
Struggling Sumas have found it tough to adapt to life in Hellenic Division One East following relegation last season.
But they finally broke their duck at the sixth time of asking since moving back to the borough with a thrilling 4-3 success over local rivals Woodley, who came into the game with seven wins from seven.
“It’s a monkey off our back really,” McNelly told The Wokingham Paper.
“Hopefully now we can go on and make this a bit of a fortress as Dan (Bateman) and Matt (Eggleston) have done in the previous years.
“That’s what we’re looking for.
“The lads are a fairly confident bunch.
“Hopefully they can use this now as a springboard and start moving up the table and start challenging for the top two or three places.
He added: “It was a proper local derby played in a great spirit.
“Woodley are a very good side and played some good football.
“I think we got 140 odd people watching and I think they all went away happy with what they saw.”
“To be fair it’s probably a result that’s been coming for a while.
“The performances have definitely warranted a better return than we’ve been getting really.”
Sumas got off to a flying start with goals from Ben Broadhurst and Jack Gibbs putting them 2-0 up.
But Michael Herbert’s men rallied, pulling one back through Charlie Oakley.
And further goals from Oakley and Greg Beckett, either side of an own goal, brought the scores level to 3-3 before a Gibbs penalty sealed the game in Wokingham’s favour.
“Letting that lead slip was a worry for us,” admitted McNelly.
“We’ve still got a bit of a hangover from last season about conceding goals and when it came back to 3-3 from being 2-0 up I thought, here we go again.
“To be fair the boys dug deep and managed to get the winner.”
He added: “They are a very good side, Woodley.
“Certainly they will be up there or thereabouts towards the end of the season without a shadow of a doubt.
“They’ve got quality individuals and they play very well as a team.”
Gibbs stole the show with a brace having only recently rejoined the club following his release from Binfield.
And McNelly is thrilled to have him back while he also hinted at further additions to the squad.
“Jack’s a massive signing for the club really,” said McNelly.
“He’s a quality player and a true Suma as (club president) Mark Ashwell would probably say.
“We have Will Day the skipper coming back in this weekend as well.
“He’s been away after having an appendix operation so that’s another boost and there should be some news of a couple more signings in the week so it’s all looking good.”
