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Kevin Maher is making sure to look forward to what’s to come after a difficult week that culminated in the postponement of last weekend’s game.
The departure of Harry Cardwell to Forest Green Rovers and the travel issues that prevented the match at AFC Fylde from taking place summed up a tough few days.
Head Coach Maher said: “It was probably the hardest week I’ve had here if I’m being honest despite everything that went on last year.
“It was a long week for us last week and then it was obviously disappointing with what happened, but it was completely out of everyone’s hands. I feel for the fans who travelled up to support us as they always do, and they’re the ones that you think of most.
“The Club travelled up a lot on the train in League One and League Two. What you cannot do is foresee what happened.
“Unfortunately that did happen, but we always try and prepare right and there’s a lot of games coming up, so rest and recovery is almost as big as training and any bit extra we can get, we’ll try and do that. It’s gone now and we’ve got to focus on what’s coming.”
The current difficulties are added to by a number of injuries, which Maher gave specific details on as well as emphasising the importance of more new signings. “Josh [Walker] will be at least a couple of weeks, Danny Waldron will be 6-8 weeks and Oli Coker will be 4-6 weeks, so that’s three big players out.
“It’s a very difficult market at this time of year because no one wants to let players go and people have got their squads together.”
“We wanted a good crack at it this year and we’ve got to work extra hard now. It’s not just bringing players in, it’s getting them up to speed with the system and how we work. We’ll continue to work as hard as we possibly can.”
He did manage to bring in Bim Pepple and Keenan Appiah-Forson on Friday. “With Cokes being out for a number of weeks, we needed another body in midfield and Keenan’s someone who knows the league well from his time at Dagenham last year.
“Bim’s come in from Luton, which was quite late. He’s tasted the league before with Bromley, but it’s an area we’re so short in. It’s an opportunity for him.”
Maher went on to talk about just how big of a loss Cardwell will be. “With Cards going, who’s a huge, huge loss for us, we’re very, very short.
“He led the line and is one of the best centre-forwards in the league, so we’ve got to get bodies in. For him to go to a team in our league is disappointing but it shows what they’re doing [Forest Green] to try and get out of it.
“We’ve got to look forward now and try and get adequate replacements in.”
On a different note, Blues have been training on the new pitches for the first time this week. “It’s been nice to finally get over there,” said Maher.
“There’s still loads of work to do, but Chris Ball and his team are working hard to get them really up to speed. They’re top pitches and they will be very good for the Club going forward.”
pull the other one Kev
I really don't think we can lay OK's misdemeanor or the travel fiasco at his feet and Cards going to a promotion rival was hard to stomach, he is a big loss. 
to concentrate on events on the field. UTB 
