The Friday Feature Flanagan's Delight At Fantastic Run

A few months ago Concord Rangers had seven points from eleven games but their upturn in form sees then now looking up the table while being cautious as well, writes Tom Feaheny.

"To go 10 games unbeaten when you are the smallest club in the league I think is a fantastic achievement. It was a run that we needed to go on and even with what we have done we are still only 3 points off being in the bottom three so we know a lot of work and effort is still required," Flanagan said.

"I would put the change of fortunes down to many factors such as individual players are now familiar with the standard required at this level as we have 7 players that came to us either coming up a division (some two) or they had come to us having just come out of full time football and are now adjusting to the non-league environment."

"The squad are starting to come together and play as a team which was always going to take time as we started the season with only 5 players who finished the last. This transition of 7 players coming into the division and 11 new players coming into the club meant that the first few months were tougher than expected but with time comes togetherness and we have that now. Confidence with the results we are achieving is taking players performances to new levels so I am interested to see how the second half of the season plays out."

During a tricky start Flanagan said he was not worried due to their performances.

"During the run of 7 loses I was confident the players would turn things around so I am not surprised we have had an upturn in results and the challenge now is for the team to keep this up."

"We have been competitive in every game this year with no team dominating us for sustained periods which was different to last season when we was in a similar position but had taken some big losses especially at home. We still need to be more resilient defensively as a team while also improving offensively by hitting the target more frequently when opportunities arise but the team have shown they are capable over the last 2 months and we now need this for the remainder of the season."

Due to their exit from the FA Trophy it meant the side had a weekend off, which Flanagan saw as both a negative and positive.

"When you are on a good run you want to keep on playing so it doesn’t fizzled out so it is disappointing that we don’t have a game this weekend. Another part of me acknowledges that with a small squad having time to enable players to recover from strains and injuries leading to a busy Christmas period is equally important."

Flanagan said the competition in the Vanarama National League South means it will be an exciting second half of the season.

"I think the league is very even and so far I haven’t seen any stand out teams. The big clubs like Dartford, Chelmsford & Hemel are all placed where I would expect them to be and you have Havant and Hampton in close proximity.

"Similarly at the bottom of the division you have lots of teams very close to one another all of whom I believe have shown are more than capable of putting winning runs together and climbing away from where they currently are. I think it all leads to an exciting second half of the season and one we can perform strongly within."

The aim of Rangers is simple for Flanagan as he looks to ensure they have what it takes to stay in the league.

"It is our fifth season in the league and this is a great accomplishment and something we want to continue. To undertake this I think we will need 50 points so from the remaining 21 games we will need to target 27 points. Everything we will do will be focused towards this and we don’t look beyond this until it has been achieved.

"We keep statistics of the players individual performances and within the squad we will place targets on the players and also on the team as a whole. These will be targets if achieved that will give us the best possible opportunity to get the 27 points we require."

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