Head coach Steven Schumacher is relishing the prospect of leading Wanderers out for the first time in his new home as he looks to make a winning start at the Toughsheet Community Stadium, writes Pete Oliver.
Schumacher’s side entertains Crawley Town on Saturday on the back of a productive first full week in charge for the new coaching set-up of Schumacher and right-hand men Mark Hughes and Richie Kyle.
“It's been great, I've really enjoyed it,” said Schumacher ahead of Wanderers' renewed bid to move into the top six. “The lads have been brilliant to work with and all of the staff, who we are getting to know and build relationships with, have been excellent.
“It been really positive. The only negative of the week is that we didn't get any points away at Reading, but apart from that it's been good. Having a clear week to work with the players on the training pitch has been a massive help and hopefully we'll be prepared to go at the weekend.
“I can't wait. I'm really excited for it. It's going to be a good occasion, first of all to walk out in this brilliant stadium as the head coach. I'm excited for that and then the game is probably going to be an exciting game as well.
“Crawley Town are a team which is really good in possession when they have the ball. Throughout the league I think they are second overall in ball possession so it shows they're capable of hurting you if you don't get your out-of-position information correct.
“We have to make sure we’re aware of that and then try and impose ourselves on the game when we can. We want the players to be as positive as possible, play forwards as much as we can, commit bodies forwards into attack and cause them loads of problems and, most importantly, try and get the three points that we want.”
The Whites will be without captain George Thomason who starts a two-game league ban as they look for back-to-back home wins and a first success under Schumacher after Reading’s late penalty denied the former Stoke and Plymouth boss any reward on just his second day in the job at Wanderers.
Ricardo Almeida Santos is also still missing – although an anti-inflammatory injection will hopefully have him back training shortly – along with Carlos Mendes Gomes, but midfielder Jay Matete is available again following a three-match ban.
Schumacher is happy with the depth of his squad after the transfer window closed with three new January recruits on board and three leaving. And with the help of the fans, the boss is hoping to hit the ground running at home to keep Wanderers in the hunt for a play-off place.
“We’re level on points with sixth place currently, so there's loads to play for and loads to be excited about with still a relatively long time to go,” Schumacher told Wanderers TV.
“We will keep trying to improve, keep trying to get our messages across to the players about the principles, both attacking and defending, and I'm sure they will take those on board and hopefully they can put the performances in to get the results we require.
“We want to try and build some momentum, especially here in this stadium. It's dead important when you've got such a big fan base they try and stick behind the team. It won't go all our own way, I can almost guarantee that, from now until the end of this season. We won't be able to just control games and get every result to go the way we want them to go.
“But if the fans stick with us, which I know they will if they can see that the players are putting in 100% effort and giving everything that they can for the shirt, then we will win games here and I’m certain we’ll win games away from home as well with our fantastic away support. We're going to need the fans. They're going to play a huge part in this run-in and it's over to us as the staff and the players to deliver for them.”
Watch Steven Schumacher’s full pre-match interview on Wanderers TV