Simon Houghton admits injury-hit Nostell Miners Welfare are in a stronger position in many areas than they were 12 months ago.
Nostell have flown out of blocks winning all four of their Toolstation NCEL Division One matches, alongside two wins in the FA Vase.
Houghton and Jason Dodsworth’s men also seem to have predatory goal-scorers in their side with Danny Edwards and Calum Ward regularly wearing their shooting boots.
Former Pontefract Collieries boss Houghton also said that opposition sides do not enjoy visiting Crofton Community Centre anymore.
“The club is a good place to be,” Houghton told Non League Yorkshire.
“The players like it. They get on with each other and there’s a good camaraderie.
“If you look at the Selby game we should have been out of sight in the first half. We should have been three or four-nil down and we couldn’t have complained. But at 2-0 down at half-time we wouldn’t have turned that around last season – never mind win 4-2.
“I believe we are in a far stronger position than we were 12 months ago and that’s an effect of what myself and Jase try to instil in the players.
“We have got good quality and we have to stick at it even if we go a goal down. We have goals in our side and I think we have got what was missing.
“We obviously spoke in pre-season about needing a number nine who could score 30 goals. Obviously Danny Edwards set off like a house on fire.
“Calum Ward has stepped up so we have gone from having no number nine to having two number nines.
“Teams really fear playing Nostell now and that’s what myself and Jase have wanted at whatever teams we have been at. You have to be hard to beat. It has to be an achievement to beat you.
“Not when we first came here, but towards the end of the first season we were here you could see teams really celebrating the fact they had beaten us.
“Nostell have a fantastic facility and I’m sure teams and players have thought in the past ‘oh Nostell away, lovely pitch, great changing rooms, great showers, easy three points’. We have had to change that.”
Nostell are still in the midst of an crisis as up to eight players could miss the trip to Rossington Main tomorrow through injury.
But Houghton insists Nostell have other players in their squad who are very capable of stepping in.
“We have a tough game against Rossington,” he said. “In all my years in the NCEL I don’t think I have gone there and had an easy game.
“They have a lot of supporters and we’re envisaging a tough game.
“We still have a few missing such as Danny Edwards and Rhys Meynell, big players for us. We have people missing, but we have a strong squad.
“It is a good group. We were very specific in the summer when we brought people in and we’re bearing the fruits of that.
“We have also used youth and we had five 19-year-olds at Hallam which is great for those lads and great for the future of the club. They have a part to play this season and it shows the depth of the squad.”