NPL Division One East
Andy Monkhouse has paid tribute to the Tadcaster Albion volunteers who pulled off a miracle after working around the clock to ensure the ground was fit to host Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Stocksbridge Park Steels.
Tadcaster’s Ings Lane home could not even be accessed two weeks after the three storms caused significant damage.
Water was up to near the crossbars at one stage and assistant manager Monkhouse said the efforts from volunteers were remarkable.
“It is never nice seeing what happens when the floods come,” Monkhouse told Non League Yorkshire.
“There’s volunteers and people on the board who have to put in extra work to get the pitch and the ground playable.
“How everybody got the game on on Saturday was unbelievable.
“We saw the images and we went down to the ground and you would have said absolutely no chance (the game would go ahead) several days earlier.
“The pitch was ok, the clubhouse and bar was open so everyone who contributed to the game going ahead deserves massive credit.
“We said that to the players beforehand.
“We said there had been a lot of work gone into the game going ahead and that they owed it to the club and the volunteers and they needed to put in a performance which I think they did.”
The point kept Tadcaster out of the bottom three.
Free-falling Lincoln United currently occupy third bottom but Tadcaster are only two places and a point above them.
Twists and turns are bound to be around the corner but Monkhouse is positive about Taddy’s survival hopes.
“It is obviously tight between the bottom five or six clubs,” he said.
“Everyone down will think the same that they have a good chance of getting out of it.
“We’re no different.
“Our form over the last six games has been quite good and we’re looking to continue that for the final nine games.
“It’ll take definitely take over the 30 mark (to survive), I think.
“I’m not one for how many points do we need, will that keep us up?
“I think you have just got to look at every game individually.”
One thing in Tadcaster’s favour is their form under John Deacey and Monkhouse has been fairly good.
Tadcaster’s campaign began in disastrous fashion as they won just one of their opening ten league games.
Former Farsley Celtic and Bradford (Park Avenue) manager Deacey rode to the rescue in mid-October and won two and drew two of his first four league matches.
Monkhouse says their players have been superb.
“You’ve spoken about the bad start the club had and if you have a bad start, it is really difficult to turn that around,” he said.
“The club had had upheaval with managers changing and with John and myself coming in we stabilised it and there has been a lot of change in the squad.
“We have brought a couple of lads from lower leagues who are hungry and they want to learn.
“Mark Ferguson has been magnificent but he’s not the only one.
“You have Mark, you have Jack Carr who have come in and been magnificent.
“They are testing themselves.
“They could have stayed at their previous clubs and been quite comfortable.
“They have come to us knowing we are in dogfight and the attitude of those two and the whole squad has been outstanding.
“We’re quite positive about staying up but it is down to us to get enough points in the nine games to actually do that.
“The lads give everything on training nights and in games.
“I think the form over the last period has been good and when you perform well nine times out of ten you get positive results.”
Working alongside serial promotion winner Deacey has also been a good experience for Monkhouse who had a difficult spell in charge of Pontefract Collieries in 2020.
“I’ve known of him for a long time and he’s been really good for me,” he said.
“He has a lot of contacts in the game and he’s very knowledgable and been in successful dressing rooms.
“He’s been brilliant and he’s a lot more knowledgeable as manager and as someone leading a team.
“I do a lot of the coaching which I enjoy doing so it has worked quite well.
“It has taken time for us to change things that we both wanted to change but we’re starting the sort of team myself and John wanted.”
Tadcaster host Shildon tomorrow.