IAN Allinson is confident that a reversed father-son double act can inspire Hendon to the upturn in fortunes required for survival.
Allinson Snr is back in the dugout as right-hand man to son and boss Lee, doubling up with his general manager’s role at Silver Jubilee Park following the departure of assistant manager Cameron Mawer earlier this month.
A frightful February run of one point from seven matches heading into this weekend saw the Greens slip back into the drop zone but while Allinson Snr knows that the turnaround must come quickly, he is bullish about the prospects of avoiding the Southern League Premier Division South’s bottom four.
“I am really enjoying it,” said the ex-Arsenal man.
“It is good to be second-in-command to my son, it was vice-versa at St Albans. He is still learning the game but we are at a really good club with some great people, we just have to try to get ourselves out of the relegation battle.
“It will be tough. The teams around us are still picking up results and we have to make sure we are collecting as many points as we can.
“We need to pick up 20, maybe up to 23 or 24, so that would be 50 per cent or more of the points available between now and the end of the season.”
Asked whether he felt confident, Allinson Snr replied “without a shadow of doubt”, pointing to a recruitment drive that includes the return of hotshot Niko Muir, who scored one and hit the woodwork twice in a pulsating 3-2 defeat to leaders Weston-super-Mare last weekend.
“Lee has done well with bringing in Niko and one or two others, from what I have seen over the past couple of games that has given all of us a bit of a lift,” he added.
“We went up against one of the best footballing teams in the league in Weston and hit the bar three times in a really good, open-ended game where they hit the woodwork a couple of times as well and then nicked it in the last few minutes.”
