Onions boss refuses to get carried away
MR Onions coach Mike Ward isn’t getting too carried away about his team’s lofty position in the First Division standings.Second in the table, and just three points behind leaders Somerset Trojans, Onions are firmly in the promotion race in only their second season in the division.With four games remaining, they still have to play the clubs around them including Trojans and third place Robin Hood who are three points further adrift.Both Trojans and Hood have two games in hand over Onions.Ward believes much of his team’s impressive campaign has been down to their free-scoring strikers Keston Lewis and Kevin Ronaldson who are leading the league’s scoring charts.“We have had a decent season so far, and it’s all still to play for at the moment,” said Ward, whose team have won their last six games of the season.“I think we have picked up some very good results, we have the two top scorers in the league in Keston Lewis and Kevin Ronaldson, and they have helped us a lot.“I think at this stage last season we had probably written off our chances of promotion ... but this time we are still there, we are still in it.“It’s very much still in our own hands at the moment, we have four games left to play, and those teams are all around us in the top five.“We’re at the business end of the season now, and every game is going to be like a cup game for us.”Onions, who joined the First Division from the old Commercial League at the start of last season, have some tough games on the horizon including matches against promotion rivals Hood, X’Roads and Trojans.Their final match of the season is against Wolves who have also enjoyed an impressive campaign under their new coach John Barry Nusum.But Evertonian Ward insists his side aren’t feeling the pressure and believes there will plenty of points won and dropped by all the promotion chasing teams before the season’s end.“The other teams do have a couple of games in hand, and there are a couple of six pointers coming up, so a few points will be won and lost by those teams,” said Ward, whose team have a bye this weekend.“But I keep stressing to my players that we stay focused on what goes on for the 90 minutes on our own pitch, promotion is still on, and so is winning the league.“I don’t think the players are feeling the pressure, our results certainly don’t reflect that, that’s the kind of group we have here.“Everyone is very confident in their own and their team-mates ability.“I think the pressure is more likely to be on the other teams, to get the points from their games in hand.“I know I would rather have three points than a game in hand.”