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JAMES ANDERSON says avoiding relegation is still more than achievable for Woodley United.
With cup action taking the focus in recent weeks, the Kestrels have slipped into the bottom two of the Hellenic Premier Division with just eight games to play.
However, with only six points separating the bottom five sides, it is set to be a thrilling final few months of the season.
And despite Woodley suffering their heaviest defeat since August with a 5-0 cup defeat to Windsor on Tuesday and having not won in any competition since November, Anderson remains confident in his side.
“I think we definitely feel like we’re overdue a win,” the Woodley boss told The Wokingham Paper.
“I think our performances have been better than what we’ve got to show for them.
“We’re just hoping that those accumulation of good performances will turn into points.
“We’ve seen Highmoor and Burnham have picked up some points in the last couple of weeks so we know what we need to do, it’s just a matter of getting over that white line and doing it.”
He added: “I think it’s still all to play for and it’s still almost in our hands in the sense that we’ve got some very winnable games.
“It’s doing that over 90 minutes.
“With the remaining games any one of us, Highmoor and Burnham can get out of that drop zone and it’s probably only going to take two or three wins and that’ll make all the difference.
“It’s obviously easier said than done but it’s certainly very doable.
“Anyone who’s been down to watch us will see that on our day, we’re capable of getting points and picking up wins, it’s just maintaining that quality for 90 minutes rather than 65 or 70.”
Woodley’s trip to to Gloucestershire on Saturday to face Longlevens was postponed due to the “Beast from the East”, but Anderson’s charges are due to host promotion-chasing Bracknell Town at the Rivermoor on Monday evening (7.45pm).
Since the Robins thrashed the Kestrels 6-0 back in August, the ambitious club have got through two management teams with Mark Tallentire leaving the club in September before Jeff Lamb and Paul McGrotty were surprisingly sacked this week.
But Anderson says he can understand why they have made another change with Carl Davies taking over as player-manager until the end of the season.
“I guess that’s the pressure of being one of the best teams in the league and certainly having one of the biggest budgets,” said Woodley’s manager.
“On one level, you have to admire the ruthlessness of the chairman.
“He obviously knows where he wants to go and has made a call that the management team he had in weren’t the people who he thought were going to get them there.
“As much as I do feel sorry for managers in that situation, I actually quite admire the ruthlessness of the chairman.
“I think that’s a good attitude to have.
“If all you care about is winning and being the best team in the league then you’ve got to have people who are going to match that ambition.”
Despite the disruption off the pitch, Anderson is under no illusions how difficult the task will be for his Woodley side on Monday.
“When we played them back in August, they were one of the best teams we’ve played all season,” he said.
“On the day they were fantastic and so they should be with that budget.
“We go into Monday night very much as a free hit.
“No-one is expecting us to get anything. We know on our day that we can take points off these big teams.”
He added: “Once you get players of a certain quality, whoever is giving the instructions on the side is largely irrelevant.
“I remember to when I was a player, as much as there is an importance on tactics and there’s an importance on how a team is motivated and how they’re set up, I think players of a certain level can just go over that white line and do what they know and their quality will come through.
“I think that’ll be the case for Bracknell.
“They haven’t become bad players overnight and they haven’t become a bad team overnight, so we’ll expect a very tough game on Monday night.”
