‘We’re not scared of playing anybody’ was the message from Wokingham & Emmbrook boss Dan Bateman as they prepare to face league leaders away from home on Saturday.
“Facing Risborough will of course be a very tough game. They are favourites to win the league and rightly so if you look at the way that they have started this season and the resources that are available to them,” said Bateman.
“We played them in the cup and drew 1-1 and were actually disappointed to draw, I felt that we were the better side and probably should have been two nil up when they equalised and I think we would have held on to win.
“We made three or four changes and I expect that they did they same, so it will be a fresh game but if we go out there and perform the way that we can, then I’m confident we can come back with a positive result. “
The Sumas go into the Hellenic League Division One East clash on the back of a 2-1 away victory against third place Penn & Tylers Green.
“We’re delighted with last weeks win. It was a difficult game in difficult conditions. I must admit that after 15 or 20 minutes we struggled to contain them and we were forced into making a substitution as Nicky Bateman was ill and then our shape settled down eventually and we got to grips with the game.
“I thought we finished the first half the stronger of the two sides and then in the second half I felt that we controlled the game for large periods, so I was really pleased with that.
“It was also really pleasing to see the boys show resilience to come back from 1-0 down at half-time to then turn it around and win the game. We were under the cosh for the first 20 minutes and we’re happy to get through that period with the score only at 1-0 to them. But credit to the lads, we dug in and got through it and eventually our quality told.
“Second half I felt that we were the better side but having said that Woody in goal was probably our man of the match, his handling was spot on and the saves that he made at times kept us in the game.
Wokingham & Emmbrook currently sit in seventh position in the table having won five and lost two of their seven league fixtures this season, but with at least one game in hand on all the sides above them in the division.
“We’ve got plenty of games in hand on the teams above us in the table, but ultimately it is about getting the points on the board,” continued Bateman.
“We’re having a good run in the cup competitions at the moment, so every other game seems to be a cup match which means every other team seems to be getting away from us in terms of games played. But still we are on a really good run of form, I don’t think we’ve been beaten in seven games so we’re definitely looking to keep that going and hopefully we can move up the table.
“We’ve played seven league games and there’s team above us that have played 11 or 12. All we know is that everybody we have played so far we’ve played well in some tough encounters.
“But we’re not scared of playing anybody and what is most important is what we do. It’s now about what we do and our consistency and keep churning out results.
“One of the things I’m really pleased about is that we’re not letting in many goals. In 15 games we’ve only let in 11 goals so defensively we’re relatively strong and we’re also scoring goals at the other end so as long as we keep doing that, we won’t be far away come the end of the season.
“For me the cup competitions are very important, I’ve got a large squad of 18 or 19 players and the only way to keep people happy is to let them play.
“If the cup competitions give us the opportunity to give people minutes and to try new formations and different things, it is something we all enjoy and it’s vital for me to try and keep everyone happy.”
