Oliver: Droitwich need more maturity to be competitive - The Droitwich Standard

Oliver: Droitwich need more maturity to be competitive

Droitwich Editorial 13th Jul, 2016 Updated: 17th Oct, 2016   0

DROITWICH SPA joint-boss Wayne Oliver is calling on his players to show more maturity as they edge closer to the new Midland League Division Two campaign.

After ending the 2015/16 season in third – their highest ever Division Two finish – as well as clinching two pieces of silverware in the Presidents Cup and Worcestershire FA Saturday Junior Cup, Spa will be looking to replicate or even better that.

Despite Mark Burrows and Jasper Alford departing the Saltmen, Oliver and fellow joint-boss Mark Owen have acted fast to bring in Matthew Hunt and Aston Gunter ahead of the 2016/17 campaign.

With no more signings in the pipeline and last season’s top scorer James Lemon also signing on, Oliver insists his players must be more mature if they want to reap more success.




“We are still looking at some players to bring into the club but there’s no rush because what we are asking for is the squad from last year to be more level-headed,” he said.

“Sometimes last season we did not manage well enough with the pressure and that’s down to a lack of maturity so hopefully we can improve on that.


“We’d like to go for promotion but it’s going to be a massive order for us because you’ve got Continental Star dropping two divisions, Hampton have recruited a lot of players and Coton Green are also doing the business too.

“Paget Rangers will probably be the favourites but we will give it a right good go for this year and we’ll see what happens.”

The Saltmen are in pre-season action again this Saturday as they welcome local rivals Bromsgrove Sporting to the King George Playing Fields.

After losing their first pre-season friendly 5-1 to Racing Club Warwick on Saturday, Oliver’s side returned to winning ways with a 2-1 victory over Alcester Town on Tuesday night.

However Oliver insists results are nothing to worry about and told the Standard improving fitness and giving players much-needed game time is key.

“We had half the side missing on Saturday but that showed we have strength in depth at the club despite the result,” Oliver added.

“It was nice to get the win on Tuesday but results do not bother me during pre-season. It’s all about getting the fitness up and in both games we looked like we had 30 minutes in us.

“Hopefully on Saturday we can aim to push for 60 minutes and we then push on from there.”

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