Wakehurst boss aiming to get back to basics

Wakehurst manager Ian Gregg says Wakehurst must go back to basics as they attempt to put last year’s nightmare season behind them.
Wakehurst manager Ian Gregg has high hopes for teenage defender Niall Swann this season.Wakehurst manager Ian Gregg has high hopes for teenage defender Niall Swann this season.
Wakehurst manager Ian Gregg has high hopes for teenage defender Niall Swann this season.

The Ballymena side endured a miserable campaign last season, finishing fourth from bottom in Belfast Telegraph Championship Two.

“It was our worst season since we started playing at that level,” admitted Gregg.

“We brought in a number of good players and we started the season with high hopes but it just didn’t work out for us at all.

“We did and still do have some transfer targets but this year I’m wanting to operate with a smaller, more tight-knit squad.

“We want to get back to the basics we have employed to good effect in recent years, of hard work, a good team spirit but with a sprinkling of quality throughout the team as well.

“We’re going to try to get back to what we did a couple of seasons ago when we played with a very high intensity and went on a great unbeaten run after Christmas.”

Gregg is still working on a number of possible arrivals but is ready to dip into the pool of players available from the club’s successful link-up with Northend United Youth.

With regular goalkeeper Marc Maybin unavailable for the opening weeks of the season, Gregg is likely to pitch teenage stopper Aodhan Tolan into the fray, while the manager is also excited by the emergence of defender Niall Swann, who was voted the Player of the Year in the Ballymena and Provincial Junior Division Three last season, while playing for Wakehurst’s reserve team.

“Niall can play either full-back or centre-back. He is only 17 but in my view he has the potential to go on to play at senior level but a season in the rough-and-tumble of the Championship should really help his development.”

That youth will be supplemented by the experience of ‘old heads’ such as Dougie Stevenson and Paul Muir, but Gregg has lost Gareth Dickey, David Gage and Jason Paul, who has joined older brother David at Moyola Park.

“I don’t think we will be expected to be among the top sides in the division but I certainly think we should be targeting a top six finish - we certainly don’t want to be looking over our shoulders at the relegation battle,” says Gregg, whose side kick off their campaign at newly-promoted Dollingstown this Saturday.

“It will be a big occasion for Dollingstown after trying for a number of years to get to this level and we will have to deal with that and try to make a good start to our season,” added Gregg.