Solihull Moors skipper Theo Streete will be expressing his views on the club throughout the season in a regular column for the Observer.
This week he takes a look back on the importance of Monday’s 3-1 win over Curzon Ashton and also discusses the pressures of sitting top of the league.
On Saturday’s defeat
“I think it was a case of them taking their chances and us not doing so which was difficult to take because normally do.
“We played quite well and played some good football when it was 11v11 but when Gaze got sent off that was a bit of a blow and it killed us really.
“But at the end of the game everyone in the changing room was still upbeat especially knowing that results went our way which was good.
“We also knew what we had another game on Monday which was another chance for us to bounce back and get another three points on the board and create that gap again.
“As a squad we’ve had a few setbacks before this season and we’ve shown great character to bounce back which is what we’ve done before.
Back to winning ways
“I don’t think the weather was a problem on Monday evening at Curzon although it was obviously very wet when we came out for the second half and having said that despite the conditions both sides played some really good football and we stuck to our patterns.
“We dealt really well with the pressure and despite making a few changes we played well again which shows how good of a squad we have got.
“They played a really good brand of football with their attacking full-backs causing us problems so for the neutral fan it was an entertaining game of attacking football.
“I think for us we proved especially in the first half and up until the red card that we can played just as good without the ball as we do with it and defensively we look solid again.
“We got lucky with the red card but sometimes that can hinder you sometimes because it makes your opponent sit back and get numbers behind the ball but we still managed to play our own game.
“I think at this stage in the season I would much prefer to have the points on the board and be looking behind our shoulder rather than looking up and chasing. As a team we’d much rather have the points on board all day long.
“We’re still the team that people want to beat so it’s nice to know that other teams are around us and seeing that we’re winning.”
Pressure
“I’d agree that there is pressure on other teams to pick up points and they will be hoping we lose two or three games and in that respect there’s now a pressure on us not to slip up, but it’s a good pressure.
“We’ve just got to make sure we continue going about doing our job, playing our patterns and hope that we can continues winning to that other teams fall further behind.
“We played very well last time against Gainsborough Trinity and beat them 6-1 but I’m sure this time they’ll come up with a different tactic and perhaps be a little more cautious.
“Having played them recently I think it does help but sometimes when teams go on a run they can keep the same shape and tactics and hopefully we can expose that on Saturday.
“As the season goes by I think it is becoming more realistic that we can win the league, but there’s still plenty of games to chalk off.
“We’ll continue to take each game as it comes and on each merit and then if we’re still up there that’s a sign that this has been a good squad from the very start of the season.”
