With the season almost a third of the way through already, Karl Rose’s Frickley side sit 17th. Not that the league table tells much so far. The Blues are just five points from the play-off spots, with almost the entire league within five points of one another. 10 points from 4 games in September saw The Blues go within a win of entering the top six, and although two losses have derailed the momentum, the home side are still in contention for a charge.
In our first interview of the season, we sat down with the gaffer to discuss last week’s agonising defeat, today’s game and the return of frontman, Luke Hinsley.

Karl, we have to start with last week’s cruel defeat at top of the league Skelmersdale United. How hard was it to lose in the way you did?

“It was absolutely heartwrenching. To concede a goal in that manner, when we should have had a goal-kick is hard. We fought like lions to come back from two goals down, we could easily have gone and won it, but that’s football. There are obviously positives though, it takes a good team to fight back like that against such a good side. But we held our own in both games, and if we were a bit more ruthless maybe it could have been different. If we continue to play like that, we’ll win more than we lose without a doubt.”

Last week’s victory saw the return of Luke Hinsley,and he got a goal on his second debut.Can you explain his decision to return?

“Well we didn’t want him to go in the first place, and I think he left with a heavy heart. Obviously Goole have a bit of money, and it’s hard to say no when someone offers you a chunk of money. He rang us about potentially returning, and we both spoke about where we are now and what each other wants, but the decision was quickly made.

He works his socks off, if he just adds a few more goals to his game then he’s a very good player. We were delighted with his performance last Saturday. Everyone’s delighted to have him back and to score straight away is ideal.

This weekend you go from playing top of the league to bottom. Do you think there’s more expectation on you to get a result?

“You can’t expect anything in this league. Belper went and thumped Witton Albion 5-0 and showed their class, so they do definitely have something about them. I’ve spoken to other teams, and they’ve all said Belper are a good side. They’re not losing heavily either, it’s always close. I’m sure they feel it’s a chance to pull us into the relegation fight, but we need to turn up with the right attitude and know that’s it not going to be easy by any means. There are no easy games, we scrapped like mad against Emley in the cup last week, and they are three divisions lower, so we just have to keep guarding against complacency. It’s crucial we get the three points, but it will be a tough game.

And finally, how do you reflect on the start to the season?

“Well we’ve played all the top dogs, so at least that’s out of the way. We’re the only ones to beat FC United, and we’ve held our own against most the other big guns. I’m disappointed we haven’t got a few more points on the board, and but for last minute goals we would have. If we can put another run together like we did last month, we’ll soon propel straight up the league.

We had no illusions going into it that it’d be a difficult season, and we had a poor start, perhaps down to so many new players coming in. We got on a good roll, but now we’ve had a couple of defeats unfortunately. But we can’t look back and we need to look forward. Our squad’s not massive and we’ve had injuries to the likes of Gavin Allott and Danny South, so we’ve had our problems. Me and the coaches have always got our eyes out for new players because the squad isn’t massive, and two games a week does take its toll.