Atherton Collieries manager Steve Pilling believes the enforced winter break in December and January has been a benefit to his squad building plans for the remainder of the season.
The Colls boss feels that the break enabled him to assess the commitment shown by players in turning up for training sessions, and helped him shape a squad that has been in good form since fixtures resumed.
Steve said: "Although I've heard many people say that a break of five or six weeks has disrupted the season, in many ways it has helped me. I've been able to see who is reliable, and who turns up for training regularly, and as a result I've now got a group of players I know I can rely on and trust.
"I've now got a squad of 16-18 reliable lads who turn up week in week out. I've only added about four since we had the break, so it's much the same team but we have started to put a run of results together.
"We only missed one training session when the snow came in early January, and we have been really lucky in being able to get good facilities in Horwich to use, and get in sessions of two to two and a half hours. I think that has paid off as we have looked fitter than other teams in the closing stages of games since we started back playing again.
The break in fixtures began immediately after Colls lost 7-2 at Stone in mid-December, and Steve says that result also proved to be a turning point in the season.
"At Stone I had selection problems through injuries and players being unavailable, and I had to play a new system. It didn't work and they ran us ragged, we were three down at half time and it could have been more. I changed things again at half time but in the end we were well beaten, and we had a chat after the game and I decided that the constant changes we were having to make were playing a big part in out inconsistency.
"I felt that we needed to have a settled side even if that meant us having to put up with a few defeats here and there, just to get some continuity. Some of the players I had were just a bit too unreliable, and I was finding myself getting on the phone on a Friday to the likes of Steve Waywell at Chorley and Tommy Lawson at Skelmersdale to see if they had anyone they could let me have at short notice just to bolster the squad up for Saturday. They were really good at helping me out, but that's not the way I want to work, I want my own team with guys I can trust and who I know will be there week in week out.
"The enforced break gave us a chance to get the right mix of lads together, and to be fair our results have improved a bit more quickly than I expected. We need to keep it going now, and need to go out with the same intensity in every game".
Although promotion appears to be a long shot for Colls this season, Steve believes his side can have a major say in the promotion race.
"We're in a pack in the middle of the table, but we've beaten quite a few teams that were above us in the league at the time, including Leek and AFC Liverpool in the last few weeks.
"It really is an interesting league now, with the numbers of teams that will fancy their chances of getting in the promotion race. We lost to AFC Blackpool in October in the cup when they were bottom of the league, and I remember thinking they didn't look like a team that should be where they were. Ashton Town were down there with them at the time, and look at what both of them have done results wise in the last month or so, they've done really well.
"I think it's going to be a fascinating run in, I've never seen a league like this where everyone seems capable of beating everyone else. I'd fancy Stone will finish in the top two, and I like the look of Barnoldswick, I think they are capable of taking points of anyone, and I think they would be my favourites for second place. They are a good solid side, they don't leak many goals, and they have some experienced players.
"But Irlam are a decent side too and it's hard to predict results in any game, you only need to look at the other week where Stone needed a late equaliser to get a point at Oldham.
"I think we can have a say in who goes up because there's a few sides that have to come to us, especially in midweek. With us playing our midweek games on a Monday night that can be an advantage to us sometimes, because not everyone is used to playing Saturday and then on Monday, especially if they have had a hard game on Saturday".
Although Steve is setting no targets, he is convinced his side have plenty to play for in the remaining games.
"The committee have put no pressure on me, but in a funny sort of a way I feel that is pressure, because you want to do the very best you can for people who are backing you. At the moment our aim is to finish high enough to qualify for the FA Cup this season, and then next season we will be looking to push on from there and then I can be judged a bit more on results.
"You have to have an eye on what's going on further up the pyramid though, you look at the likes of Kings Lynn going, and Durham and Chester in trouble, and you wonder if once again more clubs will be taken from our league for the Unibond. That in turn might mean that there is an extra promotion place or two in Division One, and if we could win few games back to back and other results go in our favour, then you never know where we could finish.
"I still think I need two or three players to add to the squad, and I'm not going to rest on my laurels. New faces can give an impetus as people see a threat to their place and it gives them an incentive to play better. But I won't bring players in for the sake of it, they have to be the right players who will strengthen the squad.
"In the first couple of months I was at the club (Steve took over at the end of August) it was difficult, especially when players I had brought in were letting me down. But now we have a settled squad, results are better and I look forward to Saturdays much more now. The team have been setting a consistent standard every week and that's the standard we've got to keep to".
