Stevenage FC

Boro’ face a tough game away to Colchester United on Saturday afternoon and Gary Smith is aiming to continue the unbeaten start to the season that has propelled them into the second automatic promotion place, and he spoke to Boro Player about how the new group of players are coming together.

Colchester have recently appointed Joe Dunne as first team Manager and Smith how he has known Joe for a long time and how he expect Colchester to move up the table under his leadership.

“Joe Dunne is a terrific guy I know him ever so well, he thoroughly deserves his opportunity.

“He has worked tirelessly at Colchester coming through the ranks and now he finds himself in the hot seat. Joe is a good coach and has got the group playing some very good football already and has changed their style and direction very quickly and it will be an incredibly tough game there at the weekend.”

After a great start to the season Gary still feels there is more to come from his Boro players as he feels they have yet to show their full potential which can only be a good thing and he feels that with players coming back from injury we will start to see the full potential of the squad.

“There is a lot of competition in the group, when you start to add some of the guys that have been out of action you can see that the bench gets a hell of a lot stronger who ever that may be and the strength of a team is judged on who you can bring on and impact the game.

He continued: “The angle that we are looking at with a lot of these guys is making sure that the new faces and the direction that the group is going in the right direction.

“We are still developing, and saying that we have not fully hit our stride yet, there has been some good football and a lot of quality shown whether that be physically or technically; we are still trying to find our best side.”

With Smith’s side taking all three points from a tough game last Saturday against Scunthorpe, the gaffer admitted that some games are not always going to go our way however there are match winners in our team that will be important this season.

“There are always going to be parts of a game that are very competitive that don’t always offer the sort of control that you would like but it’s another part of any game that you’ve got to win and get yourselves in a good position and hope that players like Gregg can produce that bit of quality.”

Gary then looked forward to retaining their unbeaten run but insisted his side would have to be at their best to come away from the Community Stadium with a positive result.

“It will be nice to continue our unbeaten run, which of course is the challenge. I think this game will be slightly different in the way which it unfolds and we will have to find all of the qualities that we have shown already away from home to come away from this one with at least another point on the board. The group is confident they are fully aware of the challenge in front of them and Colchester’s new additions give them something else and a different dimension from what we might have seen a month ago.”

To see the full interview, including Smith’s thoughts on the help that Nigel Winterburn has brought to the training ground, use the 14 day free trial on Boro Player now!