Smart Move Weekly Round Up v Wolviston FC

Club Secretary Justin Smart caught up once again with the main man Wayne Gredziak to discuss the last game we played and everything that has transpired until Wednesday evening’s kick-off at 7:30 PM.

Justin Smart: How do you sum up our performance against Darlington Town? 

Wayne Gredziak:  Darlington Town seems such a long time ago now. We have had time to reflect and re-assess since thenbut they are a well-paid, well organised team that had everyone available for a game in which they are pushing for promotion and unfortunately, we struggled.

JS: Was it just a case of that match being a free hit against a very well-drilled unit? 

WG: Darlington Town are a well-drilled unit but you would expect that they are with the quality of players they have attracted with the amount of money they are paying. Getting anything from that game was always going to be a tall order. 

JS: We've been busy behind the scenes once again with some new signings. Talk our fans through who the new boys are and what they add to the squad.  

WG: We have brought in 5 players this week to strengthen and give us that extra push for our remaining 11 games: 

Mikey Weston - A man who needs no introduction. He is a centre-back who was Willington’s player/manager only last week but he has took a step back from management and wants to solely focus on playing. He will be a great addition in helping bring the younger lads on. 

Ben Newton - Another centre-back who has Wearside League experience and will give us some added quality.

Jack Parnaby - Jack can play on the wings or in defence, he is quick and has an unbelievable touch.

Akachi Awa - He’s a central defensive midfielder who likes to get on the ball and he has unbelievable work ethic.

Quadri Aijbola – Quadri is a centre-back or a central midfielder. He is a big unit who just wants to play football but with his size will break up play. 

JS: We welcome Wolviston to Leyburn Grove, what are your thoughts on them?

WG: Wolviston have always been a good side and they are a club where I was assistant manager with Chris Lax. However, they have lost players of late to Guisborough and Norton and Stockton so they are not as strong as they used to be. So it should be a good game under the Leyburn Grove lights.

JS: Do you feel the game against Wolviston FC is a winnable one for us on Wednesday night?

WG: There are no easy games in this league as we are finding out but with Wolviston hitting a bit of bad form,this is certainly a game that we should be competing in and hopefully pick points up.

JS: Do you think our game away to Shildon Reserves being called off has helped or hindered us?

WG: We have not had a game for over 2 weeks now but we have been working hard on the training ground, so extra recovery time will definitely work in both teams favour as Wolviston’s game was also called off, so both teams should be raring to go.

JS: What's your message to the amazing Citizens coming down to watch us under the lights, who are still hungry to taste our first victory of the season?

WG: I think we are so close to picking up that first win but we need turn up with the right attitude and right mentality to push on and finish the season well. Recently our supporters have been excellent and turned up to games and hopefully this continues on Wednesday night against Wolviston under the lights. As I’ve just said, we have added some new signings and hopefully they will add the quality in depth we have been missing and get that first win under our belt.

​We're also delighted to welcome some new committee members, 3 new signings off the pitch that will help us immensely. Steven Patterson, who is the dad to our amazing social media and website manager, Charlotte. Mark Padden, who is a friend to the Durham City AFC committee, also joins us. And last but no means least, Toby Dunne. We hope that the arrival of these three individuals will help give us our first three points of the season. With that said, there are two games on Wednesday night in the Wearside League Division One. Let's see you come down to Leyburn Grove to watch a key game at the foot of the table. Both Wolviston and ourselves will be looking to fight tooth and nail in this game, so it promises to be an absolute cracker under the lights in Houghton-le-Spring.