If the Toolstation NCEL Premier Division title race involved cars and a motorway then winless Penistone Church are stuck in road-works.
The fast start Ian Richards wanted has failed to materialise.
For a team which is aiming to win promotion, their form has been miles off.
Church have lost two (against Sherwood Colliery and Silsden) and drawn two (against Eccleshill United and AFC Mansfield) of their opening four fixtures – alongside the FA Cup replay defeat to Lower Breck.
Penistone and Richards hope to arrest the slump on Friday night when they head to Emley AFC for the mouth-watering league clash – the first competitive fixture between the two clubs since 2017 when Church caused one of the greatest seismic shifts in NCEL history.
But the question on most lips; what has gone wrong at Penistone so far this season?
“The answer to that is simple, it is the results that are not going right,” a very upbeat Richards told Non League Yorkshire.
“They’re the things that are wrong at the moment.
“In terms of the players’ commitment, attitude, application, togetherness, it is going really well.
“In terms of performances on-the-pitch there are a lot of positives.
“Ultimately when you start a season it is all about results.
“We were the better team against Eccleshill and they’ve had a good start.
“We should have won that game.
“We were excellent at Lower Breck against a difficult team and on a difficult 3G surface.
“We started brilliantly against Lower Breck at home and went ahead but then gifted them a goal and then gifted them another in the second half.
“We had ten minutes where we lost our way but finished the game the better team.
“We played Sherwood Colliery who have had a good start and we went 1-0 up in the first half hour.
“We then gifted them a penalty and it was an individual error from (goalkeeper) Snaithy (Chris Snaith) which deflated the players.
“So we were unfortunate there.
“We played Mansfield away and the first half was our worst performance of the season.
“That’s the only half where we have not turned up.
“We got the reaction to get to 2-2 and (Mansfield) were hanging on at the end so you can see the lads are together and have the fight in them.
“I get data on all the game and we are dominating every single game but on Saturday (against Silsden) it was another goalkeeper error and a real poor (goal) after switching off from a short corner.”
Speaking as someone who has interviewed him after an infamous 7-0 defeat, it takes something remarkable to get Richards down.
With the tone of his voice and the content of the answers, you’d think Penistone are flying high at the top of the Division.
Church may have yet to win but there’s no clamour for the panic button – just a clear plan of how to solve their current predicament.
“The story has been that we’re giving too many soft preventable goals away and we’re not been clinical enough in the opposition penalty area,” he says.
“Between both penalty areas I’m really happy with what we’re doing with the squad.
“Yes I need to shuffle the pack a little bit in terms of personnel and the starting eleven but it isn’t the case of going out and recruiting externally.
“(Goalkeeper) Jake Greatorex is signed on for us and I’ve had a chat with (Pontefract Collieries manager) Craig Rouse and it is best for everyone that Jake plays every single game for us and is a number one.
“At Ponte he is and out as Craig has gone with Ryan (Musselwhite) as his number one.
“Jake was already with us so it is not like I have brought someone (new) in.
“Nathan (Keightley) needed a couple of training sessions and a couple of games on the bench but he is ready to start now.
“He’s another one who has been with us.
“Brett Lovell has had a serious break and he’s just turned 38 so you don’t recover as quickly.
“We’ve had to be patient with him but he’s ready to come back in.
“So there’s no panic and no frustrations.
“We’re not going to go out and sign half-a-dozen players.
“We have a squad of 20/21 so it is time to shuffle the pack internally and make sure we get the best eleven out who are going to prevent goals and also be more clinical in front of goal.
“We need to get back to what we’re renowned for at Penistone Church – organised, hard-working, hard to play against, ruthless, clinical going forward.
“That’s what we’re going to get back to on Friday.”
Emley is the scene of one of the club’s greatest conquests.
The 2017 Division One play-off semi-final in April 2017 was meant to be Emley’s night.
Instead underdogs Penistone cantered to an astonishing 3-0 victory – the final chapter of Darren Hepworth’s seven-year reign at Emley as he resigned two weeks later due to work commitments.
Church won promotion several days later and the rest is history.
The 2021 rematch isn’t of the same magnitude but both sides need three points to get their seasons up and running.
“(The 2017 semi-final) is up there with our greatest performances because nobody gave us a chance,” he says.
“(Emley) were absolutely flying (going into that play-offs semi-final).
“We have three (Tom Brennan, Kieran Ryan and Jordan Coduri) of their players from that side.
“It is a very similar situation because it is going to be a bigger crowd than normal because it is being played on a Friday.
“It is a local derby and they’ll be the favourites because they’re at home.
“It is a similar scenario, not that it is winner takes all or win at all costs, but we need a win and so do they.
“It is both teams going at it 100% in front of hopefully 400+ spectators.
“It is exciting and it is something I’m excited as a manager just stood on the side-lines.
“It is a massive game and it is type of games you want to play in.
“It is a great advert for Non League Football but ultimately both teams need a win.
“Both teams have had similar starts and are desperate for a win.
“It should be a full-blooded game.
“I don’t think it will be an open and expansive game.
“Both teams like to attack but because of the position both teams are in I personally think it will the team who makes the fewest mistakes who will be the team who wins.”
If Penistone pull off another stunning win at Emley then Richards will have followed in the footsteps of Bram Stoker in devising a masterpiece in Whitby.
Irish author Stoker’s famous gothic horror novel was inspired by a visit the coastal town.
Richards hasn’t been tempted to take his wife and the kids to wind up the staff at St Mary’s Church in Whitby but his mind has rarely wandered from thoughts about Penistone and the upcoming fixture.
“I’m away on holiday at the moment but it is all I’m thinking about and I’m planning for it around having a good time with the family,” he says.
“(Dracula) would be lost (on the kids) so today we have been on a rowing boat and a steam train.
“Yesterday we went to the beach.
“In the evening when we get them to bed my focus is on Penistone Church and preparing for Friday.”
Once as his break in Whitby is over and regardless of a win, draw or loss at Emley, the focus is on climbing the table and getting in-and-amongst the pace-setters.
Their 2015/16 campaign shows a poor start isn’t the end of the world.
Church lost three and drew one of their opening five Division One games – the only win was a victory at Worsbrough Bridge
They still reached the play-offs.
But a confident Richards does agree that time is of the essence and they can’t afford many more slip-ups.
“It doesn’t how much I say to you about how pleased I am with the process and performance, if we’re not getting the results, that’s the thing we are judged on,” he says.
“We have to convert some of these draws into wins and some of these losses into draws or wins.
“I’m confident we’re going to have a great season and do well in the FA Vase, the league and the local cups.
“I think it is an open league still, you’ve seen that with the results so far.
“There’s only Sherwood with a 100% record but they’ve only played three games so it is hard to judge anybody.
“Grimsby are sat top with 11 points after five games but they have been beaten badly in one of their games,
“Maltby are up there but they lost at Garforth.
“I do think it is a really competitive close Division so that’s why it gives me confidence because we’re renowned for our consistency.
“As seasons go on we are very good at not being beaten at home and winning games away from home.
“You’re completely right that we can’t let the gap grow any further because a different type of pressure grows on you and we don’t want that unnecessary pressure on the players at such an early stage.
“We still have ambitions of winning the league or finishing runners-up to get into that play-off final and whilst we’re only four games in, we need to get that first win on the board.”
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