After the Moles’ first home win of the 2023/24 Isthmian League season, Moley caught up with first team manager Ross Weatherstone to ask him all about the match against Southall FC.
Moley : Ross, congratulations on your first home win as Binfield first team manager, sum up your feelings for me after that one.
Weatherstone : “Yeah, it feels better than last week based on the events that happened after the game. It was nice to be able to celebrate the three points properly. It was great to get the chairman and everyone involved in the club in the dressing room after the game. The aim is to bring the club together, galvanise and celebrate the hard work that everyone is doing and it’s really nice to see some smiles back on faces in and around the club.”
Moley : Two wins on the bounce, but it’s not going to be job done until the final game of the season. Just talk us through the next few weeks and the rest of the season.
Weatherstone : “Before I answer that, I would just like to say, Southall were outstanding today… There was moments and patches in that game where as I thought they they were excellent and demonstrate why they were second in the league. But to move on, the two wins that we’ve just had – I have to give full credit must go to players for listening. They’ve executed the game plans, we’ve been resilient in a defensive structure and then, we’ve had opportunities, we’ve been clinical. There’s still a long, long way to go and as far as I’m concerned, the process has just started. I do want everyone to continue to BELIEVE. I want everyone to continue to support us because, as I think I’ve said a number of times, we’re going to need everybody if we’re going to replicate today’s performance, and build a base for results in the coming weeks.”
Moley : You spoke there about the defensive resilience, just sum up how well they played today.
Weatherstone : “I always talk about the whole team from a defensive structure and that starts from our frontline. They all have a duty to make sure defensively we set up correctly and I think obviously the forwards always get the success when they score goals. It’s equally as important that the defenders and the goalkeeper get the reward when you keep a clean sheet. I think that’s the fantastic and testament to the work that you know that they’ve put in today. You know, massive shout out to Reese (Jones-Junior) at right-back, Tutts (Charlie Tuttle) at left-back who is obviously come back to The Club and I thought Luke (Wayborn) and Jack (Matton) in the heart of the Defence. They were fantastic as a new partnership, and then on top of that Killian (Barret) as the goalkeeper made a massive save against Met Police in the last minute last week and as equally kept us in it today. The more that they can continue to stay grounded and continue to work on making sure that their performance is that level, it’s going to give us as a football club every opportunity to to achieve what we all want.”
Moley : And it took 94 minutes today to find the break through in a tight game. Just of speak to us about the goal and kind of your emotions when that ball hit the back of the net.
Weatherstone : “I look back at Ascot then we got we conceded one late on, it’s never nice to be on the receiving end but it’s equally as nice when you do get on the opposite end and we’re celebrating a goal for ourselves. You know, I think in the way that we’ve defended today we’ve definitely earned that opportunity. I think the goal today summarises how the performance was… They didn’t quit on any of the opportunities and Ethan being the forward that he is, finished fantastically to get the win today. More importantly, the celebrations after the goal not just from the players, seeing the supporters celebrate with the players behind the goal.
It was just fantastic.”
Moley : And the games don’t get any easier, Westfield next at the Iconic Stadium, talk to us about that one…
Weatherstone : “Yeah, well, Westfield scored five goals today and I was here and I’ve had a good victory, so it’s not going to be easy. As far as I’m concerned, I want to focus on our team and I want to try and make sure that any wounded soldiers that we might have picked up anything from today are okay. We need to make sure that they’re managed over the next 24/48 hours, to make sure that we can go into Tuesday’s game, ready to replicate what we’ve done today, which again was show fantastic heart and attitude to the club and to get the more points on the board…”
You can read Moley’s report from the match, available HERE
