Yaxley boss convinced Cuckoos can turn a nightmare season around

Yaxley manager Andy Furnell is convinced he can lead the Cuckoos to safety in the Northern Premier Midlands Division.
Yaxley manager Andy Furnell (right). Photo: David Lowndes.Yaxley manager Andy Furnell (right). Photo: David Lowndes.
Yaxley manager Andy Furnell (right). Photo: David Lowndes.

A 4-0 home defeat at the hands of Shepshed Dynamo on Tuesday left Yaxley marooned at the bottom of the table with just one point from their opening nine league games.

They suffered the embarrassment of a 9-1 defeat at Harborough earlier in the season, but former Posh striker Furnell is confident an upturn in fortunes is not far away.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"It’s been a nightmare start for us,” Furnell admitted. “We lost half a team and members of the backroom staff in the close season and we don’t have the finances to compete with other local non-league sides.

"But we’ve been here before and always dragged ourselves out of trouble, although it looks like a stronger division this season.

"Last season we picked up a lot of points from struggling sides and those teams don’t appear to be around now.

"The annoying thing is, apart from the Harborough game, we’ve been very competitive in matches. We played Loughborough who are second and we had 80% possession and outshot them 9-3. But we lost 3-0.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"We competed well for an hour against Shepshed, but a mistake at 1-0 down on the hour killed us.

“That’s been the story of the season so far. Monumental mistakes that cost us games keep happening.

"But I am convinced once we win a game we will go on a run because we do it every season. We’ve hardly played a team in the bottom half of the league yet.

"It’s up to me to work a bit of magic and recruit some extra players. That can start to happen at this time of the season when players realise they aren’t going to get game time at certain clubs.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Yaxley fielded new signings Alfie Wren, a left-sided player who had been at Cambridge City, and goalkeeper Kacper Kurylowicz who has just been released by Spurs after 10 years at the club.

Both played well against Shepshed, but Furnell does not expect to keep Kurylowicz who has been on trail at professional clubs in recent weeks.

Yaxley are next in action at Boldmere St Michaels on October 8.

Related topics: