Phew, it's safety
JUBILANT BUXTON boss John Reed hailed his players after three successive wins secured their Unibond Premier League status.
Two wins over the Easter weekend and victory over Whitby Town on Saturday moved Buxton up to 13th in the table and guaranteed safety from relegation after a season that has seen the team ravaged by injury as well as down on their luck.
But with their survival in the Unibond Premier League secured, Reed can now relax and look forward to the club's first Derbyshire Senior Cup final in over 20 years, next Tuesday.
"There's been a lot of pressure this year on everybody, the players, management, the people behind the scenes and even the fans," he said. "Obviously people work differently when under pressure and now that pressure has been lifte, its a lovely feeling.
"I've said to the lads they can go to Kendal now this weekend with the pressure off so they can relax and enjoy it.
"Then hopefully we can finish off the season with some silverware. I told them nobody remembers the runners up so we should get out there and get some silverware. To win the first Derbyshire Senior Cup final for 23 years would be a great achievement, but being honest I have to say I won't be downhearted if the result doesn't go in our favour as my only priority was keeping this club in the Unibond Premier League. It would be nice though because the lads have put in a tremendous amount of work."
And Reed is under no illusions as to what needs to be done to avoid the club finding themselves in another relegation dogfight next season.
"We have to work in both penalty areas. We conceded a lot of goals through individual errors and at the other end we missed chance after chance.
"Clive and I went through and there were only about five games we could say we deserved to lose - against North Ferriby, Frickley and Prescot we were dreadful. Against Nantwich at home they gave us a football lesson and Ilkeston at home gave us a football lesson.
"They are the only defeats where I can honestly say we deserved to lose.
"If we had won those maybe we could have been in the play-offs. But if's and but's don't win points in football matches.
"We analysed this year against last year. Last year there were games where we didn't play like we should but had a scrappy 1-0 win so we did grind results out. This year the individual errors in both penalty boxes have cost us dearly.
"But then I've never ever had the first three months of a season where a team has been so ravaged with injuries.
"Scott Maxfield missed 17 games, the most he's ever missed in his career. Terry Bowker must have missed 20 odd at least. Paul Walker missed three quarters of the season and the lad is still not right.
"Steve Ridley came back and has been absolutely fantastic. He will be a big player next year.
"We also lost Gregg Anderson for five or six matches through a training injury. You just can't replace players like that.
"If you look at the last 12 games of the season and the stability we have had in the team it has paid off.
"I'm still disappointed though with even one loss in those last 13 games.
"Clive and I have already looked at who we need to bring in, but until we sit down with Chris Brindley) and Tony Tomlinson we don't know what resources we're going to have, if any, because of the economic situation.
"Scott Hartley has signed a new contract as have Tommy Agus, Gregg Anderson, Grant Black, Scott Maxfield, Michael Towey and Gav Knight so we've got the nucleus of the team.
"We're sweating on Mark Reed. We offered him a new contract before the game on Saturday and we are waiting for an answer on that. It would be a massive loss if he went. We'd understand though because of the distance from Chester. Over the last ten games he has transformed the team in my opinion and not just through his goals.
"Gav and Mark have got to grips with each other and they will be absolutely potent if we can keep them together.
"Another thing I was really pleased about in the last third of the season has been the development of the partnership of Tommy Agus and Gregg Anderson which has been outstanding.
"We've offered Neil Stevens a contract too but do appreciate that the lad has been associated with Farsley since he was 11. They have asked him to go back pre season with them but Farsley are going to bring in even more players in than they did last year and it would be a shame if he went back there to sit on the bench.
"He was a near challenger to Tommy Agus for the managers player of the year award."
He added: "When we lost at Frickley, I have to say honestly I had my doubts but the lads have had a great attitude in difficult conditions.
"What people don't see is how much work they put into training. Scott Maxfield has been a fantastic coach and taken a lot of the pressure off me. He's brought a lot of good ideas to training and even when we have lost games in the next training session the lads have just sprung back.
"It has been difficult for me because I have never been involved in a relegation fight before and I don't like it. We will really be trying to pull all the stops out to make sure we are not in that position again.
"We will try our best for next year to try and push for the play offs. When I was given my contract at the start of the season I said to Chris that I hope by the end of it, Buxton will be in the Conference North. I have a lot of experience in that league and it would be fantastic for Buxton to get there."
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Weather for Buxton
Wednesday 08 February 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: -3 C to 0 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: South east
Tomorrow
Light sleet
Temperature: 1 C to 2 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: South west
