Robinson hopeful Hungerford have strength and firepower to succeed in Southern League
Hungerford Town boss Danny Robinson feels his side's steeliness and strength-in-depth will stand them in good stead following their 4-1 win over North Leigh on Tuesday evening.
The Crusaders were at their fluent best in the first half of Saturday’s 3-0 win over fellow Southern Premier League side Kingstonian, with in-form Michael Fernandes scoring a superb 15 minute hat-trick, while Danny Robinson’s team showed the other side of their game in a hard-fought success over Southern League Division 1 opposition in scenic West Oxfordshire in midweek.
Hungerford survived a couple of scares with the score at 0-0, including a wild penalty miss from Millers frontman Lynton Goss, but began to assert their dominance after Karnell Chambers opened the scoring before the break, with a second from Chambers and a late brace from former North Leigh defender Luke Carnell helping Robinson's side maintain their unbeaten record in pre-season.
And Robinson was pleased with how his side – which included a number of players that haven't featured much, or at all, in pre-season – adapted to the challenge posed by newly-relegated North Leigh as the Crusaders dug in their heels and ground out a battling win.
"We had to win a little bit dirtier," he said.
"First half, we should've been one or two down but you have to show many different facets of being a good side and we showed grit and determination tonight.
"If you're not playing well, the first thing to do is make sure you don't concede, stay in the game and be hard to beat.
"I thought we started off well enough but 20 minutes into the first half North Leigh absolutely battered us.
"We rode our luck a bit but I have to give credit to the lads, some of them haven't played a lot of football.
"We stuck in there and that set us up for the victory."
This was a chance for Robinson, sending his side out in a 4-2-3-1 formation once again, to have a look at some of the players that have seen less action – for various reasons, including holidays and injuries – in pre-season so far, with young goalkeeper James Walker, full-back Louie Paget, centre-halves Mike Baker and Jack Alexander as well as attacker Slavi Spasov, who had earlier agreed a deal at Bulpit Lane following a successful trial period, all lining up in the XI.
The Crusaders, who have a strong and well-balanced squad of 20 outfielders and two goalkeepers, look to have at least a couple of players capable of playing in each position, with competition for places set to be fierce throughout the side.
Robinson said: "It's massive for us, it's something we really wanted to look at.
"We've got a strong squad, we're strong in all departments.
"We've just added Slavi Spasov, with injuries to David Bremang and Great Evans we needed another centre-forward through the door.
"We're delighted to have him on board with us, he's a real talent if we can get him going and get him smiling.
"We know it'll be tough to keep everyone happy, there are going to be players here that want to play football all the time.
"We're in a position where we can rotate players based on form, fitness and opposition and that's a good position to be in."
While Conor McDonagh, who spent three separate spells with North Leigh, looks to be a hardworking and productive number nine, Hungerford also appear to have goals in the team from other areas of the pitch, with wingers Michael Fernandes and Karnell Chambers in particular looking a threat coming in from the flanks.
A lack of goals was a persistent plague for Robinson's side last season but since returning from the summer break the Crusaders have scored 16 goals in six pre-season games – including two matches against National League opposition – winning five and drawing once.
"I think we're capable of scoring goals from different areas and we lacked that so much last season," Robinson said.
"I don't think anybody got more than six goals last season and that was a massive bugbear from me because I like to play entertaining football, I like to play on the front foot.
"We know what we've got, we've got a big side so I think we'll be a danger from set-pieces and we've got a lot of quality going forward so we've got goals in the team.
"We've got goalscorers, if we can keep a clean sheet we've got that bit of magic that can win us a game.
"Michael Fernandes was unplayable on Saturday, he's a tremendous player and he can go on and be as good as he wants to be.
"Karnell Chambers was excellent tonight and he's been a threat whenever he's played, he's really capable.
"We've got a little bit of everything."
On Saturday, Robinson will return to his former club Thatcham Town, with whom he won the FA Vase in 2018 and led the Kingfishers to unprecedented heights, for Hungerford's penultimate pre-season friendly – their warm-up campaign concludes with a behind-closed-doors game with Danny Langford's Kintbury Rangers on Tuesday evening.
And the Crusaders boss, who is dubbing to clash "El-Robbo", admits he can't wait to get back to his old stomping ground but insists there will be no special treatment for the local rivals, with Hungerford going all out to take bragging rights back to Bulpit Lane.
He said: "My love for Thatcham will never leave my heart, we did some magnificent things there.
"It's classed as a friendly, but it's not really a friendly, it's a local game and there's players that have played in both changing rooms.
"It's going to be a humdinger of a game."
Hungerford begin their Southern Premier League South season with the visit of Plymouth Parkway on Saturday, August 5.
