NATIONAL LGE SOUTH PLAY-OFF SEMI-FINAL PREVIEW
Today, 3pm
CHIPPENHAM TOWN may have been tempted to book a hotel in Kent on Thursday night after beating Dartford on penalties.
Today, they make the trip back a little further along the road to face Ebbsfleet United in the National League South semi-final. Why not have a punt with a bonus code.
But, stood by the Princes Park pitch at 11pm after their Eliminator win, a long return leg to Wiltshire was the last concern for the Bluebirds’ interim boss Gary Horgan.
“Fantastic – and not just tonight,” Horgan said of his team, who booked their play-off spot with a winner-takes-all victory against Havant & Waterlooville on the final day.
“The last six weeks since I’ve been in temporary charge they’ve been fantastic. We’ve had a punishing schedule.
“We had to get a number of points in our last six games and with the run-in we had a lot of people would have doubted us – we even looked at it ourselves and thought, ‘We’ve got a lot of work to do. A lot of work’. We came through that.
“And absolutely delighted. To a man it was a really good performance. Saturday (at Havant) almost had a play-off feel about it because we had to win so we urged them to have that play-off mentality.
“We asked them to be strong, we asked them to follow a gameplan, which we did. On the night, most people who came to watch will say Dartford were the better side overall. But I think we had the better chances and I am just really glad the group have had this moment.”
They had to stand strong against arguably the best footballing side in the division in Dartford, who dominated the ball for long periods.
Alefe Santos did crash against the woodwork for the visitors and Spencer Hamilton turned the rebound wide, while Darts went close through Kalvin Kalala, but ultimately it needed penalties.
Dartford keeper Reice Charles-Cook kept out two spot-kicks, but Chippenham’s Will Henry saved three as they won the shoot-out 3-2.
“I said to them towards the end that someone is going to be a hero and I was really confident it was going to be Will Henry –I think he is one of the best goalkeepers in the whole league with both his feet and hands,” Horgan said. “He’s done his job and a couple of the lads have shown a cool head to get us through.”
Togetherness
Henry put their success down to the tight-knit group.
“This group is the most together group I’ve ever played in,” Henry said. “We’re quite a small squad.
We’ve even got a few of the U23s who have stepped up to the mark as well but the togetherness in the group is second to none for me.
“That’s why we’re performing so well. We’re all on the same wavelength, we all know our jobs and are all doing them.
“We will look forward to Sunday, we’ll recover and prep right. It will be a big day out for a club – it’s the first time we’ve been in these playoffs – but we absolutely deserve to be there.”
Horgan smiles at the suggestion he didn’t expect to be in this position. A fans’ favourite, the former Swindon Supermarine player-boss an ex-assistant Mark Collier only took caretaker charge with six games to go following the departure of Mike Cook.
“It’s a really strange position for me,” Horgan said. “I absolutely wasn’t expecting it. But it would mean a lot, I’ve got a real affinity for the club.
“But it would mean so much really because of what the players have done over the last six weeks and the constant challenges they’ve had all season. To produce what they’ve done week after week, with what they’ve been asked to do it with, is nothing short of a miracle really.
“So it means more for me just for them more than myself. I just want to see the club do well. There are lots of people who do so much that don’t get seen. I’m pleased for them as well. And, the group of players, I am ecstatic.”
