Ayres admits FA Cup focus may have distracted Flackwell from league push

Photo credit: Charlie Carter

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Flackwell Heath boss Chris Ayres admits his players may have taken their eye off the ball in the league a little this week, with Saturday’s FA Cup third qualifying round tie with Bracknell Town looming on the horizon.

The Heathens have progressed to the third qualifying round stage of the famous old competition for the first time in 11 years and will look to get one over a Robins side who got the better of them in last season’s Berks & Bucks Senior Cup final at Arbour Park.

There was some controversy over an ineligible player in that match, something which might add some spice to Saturday’s clash at Wilks Park, however, Ayres accepts the clash may have interfered with the side’s preparations for this week’s Southern League Central clashes with Leverstock Green and Enfield.

Heath could have gone top of the table had they won them both, but instead they were held to a consecutive 1-1 draws, with Harlem Hale coming to the rescue of the home side with second half equalisers after slow starts left the Heathens chasing the game.

 Those results leave the side in seventh place, still only a point outside the top five, however, Ayres may reflect in time on an opportunity missed to firmly establish themselves in this season’s title race.

He said: “We went into the two games knowing that if we won those two games we could have gone top of the league.

“So yeah, it’s a bit disappointing to only get two points. People said to me that the FA Cup could interfere with players being not as motivated for league games. But maybe we have taken our eye off the ball a little bit.

“Yeah, it’s been disappointing because no disrespect to the opposition we’ve given ourselves a bit of a mountain to climb in both games.

“We’ve been 1-0 down and then we’ve got a goal back and have been pushing for a winner, but it’s probably been a little too late.

“But it shows how far we’ve come that we are disappointed with that. We’ve got to try and move on from it.”

Despite the frustration of failing to pick up maximum points in either match, Ayres took some encouragement from his side’s second half display against Enfield. Hale is also coming into form after joining the club this summer having netted for the third time in five matches. 

“I thought we deserved to win last night (Tuesday). First half I felt we were flat. We spoke at half-time and told them it wasn’t good enough. There was a change in tempo in the second half. Before we got the goal we missed some massive chances. We got the goal, but we couldn’t get the winner.

“We said to the boys, we’ll have to start better than that on Saturday, with the calibre of opposition. We need to be starting right and getting the first goal and that helps us as the game goes on.”

Flackwell will hope and expect to be in the mix for promotion once again this season - having reached the play-off final last season - however, the initial part of the campaign will be a transitional one, as they look to find a way of playing and hurting teams without the goals of  Wiktor Makowski, Michael Harding, and Jethro Odumosu, who’ve since stepped up to impress at higher levels.

Their replacements are still finding their feet, but Ayres believes there’s potential in the new-look forward line—particularly as Hale begins to rediscover his sharpness.

“I think that I’ve said it before. It’s been tough trying to replace them (Wiktor Makowski and Michael Harding). “They’ve gone on to perform and score goals at step 2 and step 3 so it shows you the calibre of what they were for us.

“It is tough for the boys coming in. One of them is stepping up to the level. Harlem Hale seems to be getting back to full fitness, which is a massive plus, he’s scored three in his last four. Getting him back will help the others playing up there.”

Despite the missed opportunity to top the table, Flackwell remain unbeaten and firmly in the mix for promotion —though Ayres knows there’s work to do.

“If we’d have got six points from the two games we would have been top. I think it will start hotting up over the next six weeks. We’re unbeaten and you can say that’s good. We haven’t lost yet. You also don’t know if they’re good results yet, because the league hasn’t really settled down or formed yet. If you look at Enfield that was only their fourth game last night.”