Haverhill Borough manager Harry Zachariou ‘really chuffed’ after 16-game winless run ends with Needham Market Reserves victory
Manager Harry Zachariou was ‘really chuffed’ to see his young Haverhill Borough side’s recent performances finally be rewarded with three Thurlow Nunn League First Division North points on Saturday.
After winning four of their opening seven matches in all competitions, Borough endured a run of 16 games without a victory.
But despite that testing sequence of results, Zachariou always felt that a win was never too far away with his team suffering a number of odd-goal defeats and six draws during that time.
And he was proven right on Saturday as goals from Harry Farrow and Illias Zachariou sealed a 2-0 home triumph at the expense of Needham Market Reserves.
The boss said: “I’m really chuffed for the boys. It was always going to come because their performances have warranted more wins and more points.
“We played well on Saturday and got that little bit of luck that sometimes you need to win games.
“There’s been no stress or anything like that though. We’ve had the most draws in the league and we’ve been close to winning more games.
“When you’ve got eight or nine 16 year olds in your team you expect results to be inconsistent, but winning is not always the most important thing for us.
“We want the lads to put in good performances and that is what they’ve been doing. Hopefully now they’ll be rewarded with a few more wins as well.”
One particular aspect that pleased Zachariou during the tough run of form was the players’ ability to learn from mistakes.
Errors are commonplace among young footballers, but making sure that they do not continue to fester is the most important thing.
He added: “This season is about learning from mistakes. Of course they will make mistakes – all players do whatever age they are.
“But once they have made a mistake, we’re working with them to stop it happening again and again.
“At the start of the season we we’re playing against a striker in his 30s who stopped in the box and waited for the contact to come from behind from a 16-year-old defender. He goes down and gets the penalty. Now I’m seeing that 16-year-old anticipate the striker is going to stop and he doesn’t make contact.
“It’s those sort of moments that show they are learning and it’s a real joy to watch them play football.”
Fifteenth-placed Borough will have home advantage tomorrow when they host FC Parson Drove (3pm).
One of last weekend’s goalscorers – Illias Zachariou – may not feature from the start owing to the fact that he has an England Colleges trial at Shrewsbury on Sunday. The midfielder, who is the son of the manager, attends Samuel Ward Academy.
