Denton looks to carry October form forward

The Wrens were only denied a 100 per cent record for the month by Worksop Town’s injury time equaliser on 7th, since when they have picked up maximum points at home to Hemsworth MW, then at Athersley Recreation and Albion Sports, before last Saturday’s 2-0 win at home to Thackley.
That game marked the Wrens’ long-awaited first clean sheet of the season against a lively Thackley outfit, but although this weekend’s hosts Parkgate are struggling in the lower reaches of the table, Denton insists that there are no easy games in the NCEL Premier Division, and the Steelmen will be buoyed by the appointment of new manager Ross Shelton after a brief spell as caretaker.
Parkgate’s last points were picked up in a 4-0 win at Clipstone at the end of September, and although all five of their October matches were lost, the last four have been only by the odd goal.
Speaking after the win over Thackley, Denton said: “October has been a very good month for us. We’ve put points on the board, continued our good form and, importantly, kept a clean sheet at last.
“That’s something we’ve been banging on about in the dressing room. It’s nice to have won four in a row, but it makes things so much easier if we don’t concede.
“We’ve deserved our success through the month though, all the lads have worked really hard in training, getting our shape right, and picking up points on match day, including vital points in a long midweek game at Albion Sports when we had to dig into our squad depth with players unavailable through work.
“The chairman had set us a 30-point target by Christmas, and we’ve achieved it at the end of October, so we’re ahead of where we initially targeted and we still have more games to pick up more points.”
On paper November looks like a month when more points will be collected, but Denton cautioned against complacency, adding: “We’ve got a strong squad with depth so we go into our November fixtures feeling confident, but we need to keep our feet firmly on the ground.
“As soon as you take your eye off the ball you find yourselves losing games, but I don’t see that happening with our group of players. They work hard, and they listen to instructions from the bench, so things are looking great for us at the moment.
“The games coming up will still be tough but we have to fancy ourselves because we are working hard for each other, winning games and are on a good run.”

Updated 13:00 - 1 Sep 2019 by Gordon Foster