Leek CSOB player-manager Brett Barlow is looking ahead with confidence to the end of season run in, with his side handily placed among the promotion chasers.
32 year old Brett took over the managerial reins in the early part of last season, and a mixed bag of results combined with coping in his first management role made for a tricky start. But this season his side have been in the top six all season, and Brett admits that he is far more comfortable in the job now.
"Coaching and managing was always something I'd intended getting into when I finished playing but I had always felt I wanted to play as long as I can. To get an opportunity to become a manager came a little bit earlier than I expected, but when it came up I was more than happy to take it.
"It was difficult to step up because I was friends with a lot of the players, so there was a transition period where it took me a while to settle in. But we had some other experienced players in the squad who helped me, and although it was hard at first, this season has been much better and I'm pleased with the way things are going.
"I'm enjoying it, it's hard work and you put a lot of hours in but it's rewarding when you turn out on a Saturday, especially when things are going well like they have been this season".
The form this season has been a big improvement on last season, but Brett says that there were mitigating circumstances in the last campaign.
"The season before last we finished in the top half of the table but last season we had so many injuries everything seemed to peter out around Christmas time. We always knew that if we get the players fit and well organised, and added a little bit of quality to the squad we felt we would be a top six team. So we worked on that in the summer and it's gone on from there really.
"In the first half of this season we were picking a squad that had virtually the same 14 or 15 players in it, and that's been the main difference to last season where we never picked the same team from one week to the next. This season we've had a much more settled squad and that has helped us a lot.
"We had a good start to the season, got a good momentum going and have carried on from there. It hasn't helped us with all the postponements we've had recently, that probably came at the wrong time for us,
"We train indoor quite a lot, although that's not as good getting out on grass, but we had no choice in the recent bad weather. But we still had good numbers turning up for training and we did a lot of fitness work in the gym and fitness studios, so we did keep the fitness up but it's never as good as actually playing games.
"Since we started back after the break the results haven't been too good but the performances haven't that bad really, so I'm sure results will turn around again soon, we're not far off where we'd hope to be".
The Old Boys have always been a club that placed importance on having an infrastructure in place for players to progress through the ranks, and Brett says that any young player who comes to the club will always get a chance to show what they can do.
"We've got teams at the club from under 7s right the way up to seniors and we're always looking to blood new players who have come through the ranks. But that doesn't mean we're not on the look out for new players as well, and if we see someone elsewhere who's better than what we've already got, then we'll bring them in. I am quite happy with the squad I've got, but in the next couple of weeks hopefully we will be able to add a couple of new faces just to give us that little bit more quality, and move us into the top two or three, which is what our aim is.
"Obviously we are at a bit of a disadvantage as we are competing with the likes of Newcastle and Congleton for players in our area, but we can offer players good coaching, good facilities at the ground, and we try to look after them the best we can. We are in an area where there is a lot of competition for players with other clubs, but we try and do the best we can to look after players when they come to us and it seems to have paid off and worked well for us".
As far as the rest of the season is concerned, Brett's aim is for his squad to maintain the league form they have shown so far.
"The run in to the season will see us playing a lot of midweek games, maybe even Tuesday and Thursday sometimes, and it will be important to keep players fresh but at the same time keep a consistent squad without too many changes. It's going to be hard for all the teams at out level, but hopefully we've got a big enough squad to cope with that and we'll be OK.
"I really think the promotion chase in this league will go right to the wire this season. For me there's very little difference between the teams at the top and the teams at the bottom, anyone can beat anyone on any given day. I think the teams that are well organised, keep their players fit and don't have many injuries will be the ones who do well, and so far I think we've done that quite well and hopefully it will carry on, although we've had a few injuries in the last couple of weeks.
"We said at the start if we can be in the top six at Christmas time we'd be happy with that, then after Christmas we'd push on from there and see what happens. But we've been in the top three most of the season, so our targets have changed a bit now, and now that we've been there most of the season we aim to stay there now. At the start of the season we'd probably have settled for a finish in the top half of the table, but now we feel that if we weren't in the top three or four come the end of season, we'd be disappointed".
