Mick O’Connell admits discomfort with Tadcaster Albion’s season

Tadcaster currently find themselves in 14th position of the Northern Counties Eastern League Premier Division after 25 matches, having struggled to nail down consistency throughout the campaign for a number of different reasons.

The recent flooding to the Young Guns Arena saw O’Connell’s side experience two postponements, with injuries, illnesses and players leaving also thwarting any early season hopes of a play-off finish for the season.

O’Connell still has hope that his side can end the campaign on a high despite their early season struggles, with the Taddy boss admitting his frustration on how things had unravelled in a three-month period.

“I’m far from pleased. We’re just very inconsistent,” O’Connell told The Press.

“We started the season really strongly and we thought that we had assembled a really good squad, and September, it absolutely killed us. 

“It was a month where we lost nine first-team players through either unavailability, injuries, illnesses and we sort of went through the whole of September barely being able to put a squad together. 

“That sort of had a big, negative effect on us, on our performances, on our squad and on our results and that carried over into October and mentally carried over into November. 

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“We didn’t really recover from it. December we started to pick up again and just when we think that we’ve turned a corner, we looked a lot harder to beat, we were resilient, we looked hard, we looked like we had sort of steel about us again.

“We were creating chances, and then we went and threw in probably the worst performance of the season against Goole. 

“It’s been frustrating, to say the least.”

Tadcaster have seen a number of key players leave the club, including the likes of Ethan Kachosa to Pickering Town, Alfie Dean to Ilkley Town and Ben Tweed to Ossett United, with the boss explaining that financially they have been struggling to compete with some of the offers that their players have been receiving.

With that in mind, O’Connell is hopeful of striking a balance in his squad with talks underway for a left-sided player, whilst the club continue to search for a leader to join the group.

O’Connell hopes that it can help bring an end to their inconsistency, starting with a match on Saturday away to Winterton Rangers (3pm).

The Albion manager continued: “It’s been very difficult, the players that have left us have gone for financial reasons, they’ve gone to clubs for money that is three times what we can offer them.

“That’s the sort of situation that we find ourselves in as a club.

Ethan Kachosa (right) had a bright start with Tadcaster Albion, before leaving for Pickering Town. (Image: Tadcaster Albion) “Our recruitment, we tried to be smart and get young players in that can fit our style of football and that we know we can get in and improve them.

“We bring them players in and as soon as they start doing well, they get offers from other clubs.

“Unfortunately 50 per cent of them you can’t keep, because they are driven by money and the other 50 per cent are driven by development, you get to keep them because they see the bigger picture.

“It’s really difficult, especially with the money that is involved at this level of football now, it’s really difficult to keep the players.

“It comes from getting the right balance in your team, between your attack and defence and your defence to attack.

“We had a period where we were just conceding far too many goals and we’ve sort of tightened that area of the pitch up, but obviously when you tighten it up at one end of the pitch, you sort of lose it at the other end of the pitch.

“So it’s just sort of trying to find the balance between defence and attack, and I think we’re near that, albeit we’re still a couple of players short from where we need to be.

“We’re lacking a sort of left-sided, left-footed player that we’re in the market for, we’re trying to bring one in and we’re in conversations for that as we speak, we’re trying to get that one over the line.

“We’re lacking a little bit of leadership, we’re lacking a couple of experienced players that can come in and lead, not just by example but can actually grab a hold of the group and lead it.

“You have moments where you need leaders, and this season as a whole, we’ve really lacked in that department.

“We’ve got experienced players but they’ve not really led for us, so we need a proper leader to come in and lead the group in difficult moments.

“We’re in the market for that, we’re in the market for a left-sided player, and if a player becomes available that can come straight in and help us, we’ll always have those conversations.”

The main positive for the Brewers this season has been the form of striker Elliott Andrew, who has so far scored 19 goals in 18 league appearances.

The former Nottingham Forest academy hitman has impressed his manager, who still believes there is more to come after growing into the set-up at Tadcaster.

“He’s been brilliant. He came in off of the back of about two years out of football, where he had serious knee injuries, it took us a long time to get him back up to speed.

“Physically and mentally, physically he’s a better player now and mentally he’s definitely done better.

Elliott Andrew (second right) has scored 19 league goals in 18 matches this season, with Mick O’Connell believing there is more to come. (Image: Tadcaster Albion) “I look at him and I still think that he is a long way from the finished article, there’s still loads of improvement in him and he’s a great kid, he really is.

“He listens, so this time next year I think you’ll see a far better well-rounded player than at this moment in time.

“He can improve many aspects of his game, but one thing that he is, is a very good finisher.”

The Press previously spoke to Tadcaster Chairman Andy Charlesworth, who discussed the flood alleviation scheme and how recent flooding has caused problems at the Young Guns Arena.

It’s already forced two postponements this season, having struck the club six times last campaign, with Taddy’s finances taking a hit as a result.

O’Connell also admitted that it had obviously not been ideal for him and his players, and plead for supporters to sign the petition which can be found on the Tadcaster Albion social media channels.

The Brewers boss stated: “Obviously it’s not ideal when you’re missing games, those games will be rearranged for a Tuesday night so it’s difficult.

“You want to get games in, you want to get points on the board at the back end of the season when the games are coming thick and fast.

2You want to get consistent and keep the level of performances there every week, create competition for places.

“When you’re not playing games, it doesn’t matter what you do, away from a matchday, you get them in and train as much as you can, but you can’t replicate the intensity of what a game brings. It’s far from ideal.

“Hopefully the Environmental Agency can get that information off of the council and they can put in the flood defence, that is not just needed by Tadcaster football club, but it’s needed for Tadcaster as a community.

“It’s not just affecting us, it’s affecting the whole community.

“It’s an absolute no-brainer that Tadcaster needs this, so I hope that as many people as possible can go onto our social media, sign up for it and sign that petition to get it over the line.

“Hopefully they can start cracking on with it over the Summer and, fingers-crossed, it puts the flooding at our football club of Tadcaster to bed forever.”