JON LAUGHARNE says Holyport’s lowly league position should not be taken into account when they arrive at Finchampstead on Saturday.
Laugharne’s Finches sit third in Hellenic Division One East after a run of four wins from five, including a come-from-behind 3-2 success against Rayners Lane last time out.
As such, many will see the home side as strong favourites for their clash with second-bottom Holyport at the Memorial Ground (3pm), but Laugharne is wary of the threat they pose.
“They’re good, Holyport,” the Finch boss told The Wokingham Paper.
“I think they’re in a false position.
“They’ve got good players, a good manager and a really good set-up.
“I’m just second guessing but they’ve probably struggled a little bit, like we have, with availability of players and injuries.
“When you have a small squad, which they have as well, it takes it’s toll on you. I think they’re probably in a false position.
“They’ve gone up to Headington and won 1-0 – I’d love to go to Headington and win 1-0. They’ve got that in them.”
Finches survived a poor first half display against Rayners Lane to continue their recent fine run with Freddie Barron, Harry Swabey and Matt Wright all on target in the 3-2 win.
And Laugharne says a frank chat was needed at the break to push his team on for victory.
“I think Rayners Lane probably felt that they should’ve come in at half-time winning to be honest,” said the boss.
“And we probably wouldn’t have argued with that.
“We felt at half-time we were disappointed with how we’d played. We weren’t particularly good but we’d stayed in the game.”
He added: “It was a really good response.
“We had a good conversation really at half-time and came out in the second half with a bit more purpose in our play and a little bit more aggression and we eventually got the winning goal.”
Finch are likely to drop from their current position of third with only four league games to go with all the sides around them having games in hand.
But Laugharne’s charges have taken full advantage, putting points on the board and he admits he can have little complaint with recent displays.
He said: “The biggest compliment we’ve had is we played a game a few weeks ago, we won and after the game their manager was trying to sign several of our players, so I must be doing something right.”
