Veteran ace Gary Fitzpatrick is warning AFC Telford United fans not to expect a title procession next season, insisting: “We’ve got to change our game.”
The midfield general believes Telford’s second season in the Blue Square North will prove a lot more demanding than the first, which saw them miss out in the play-offs after finishing second.
Fitzpatrick, who turns 37 in August, will still be around to help the cause after agreeing non-contract terms for another year at the New Bucks Head last week.
“Next season will be a tough one for Telford, the main reason being that you get found out a little bit,” said Fitzpatrick.
“Next year people will know how we play, they will know our systems and we’ve maybe got to be able to change our game.
“The Blue Square North is a good standard and there’s some good players in this league.
“If you look at some of the better teams, they came to Telford during the season and put a lot of people behind the ball, hit us on the break and scored a lot of goals against us.
“We’ve got to look at that and think: ‘What we are going to do to counteract that?’ We’ve either got to be stronger at the back or we’ve got to be better attacking, and we’ve got to keep the ball a lot better.
“We’ve got some good players but we’ve all got to improve and make sure that, as a team, we’ve got more ways of beating the opposition.”
Fitzpatrick is only to aware of the weight of expectation from supporters, who will naturally be hoping to see their side build on an impressive first year on the second rung of non-League football.
“If you finish second people will expect you to finish first next time because they want improvement,” he added. “We’ve got two, three, four thousand people shouting for us every week and the expectation here is probably more than at any other club in the league and we have to cope with that.”
By Chris Hudson
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