THE WITTON COLUMN – a club update, with media assistant Paul Harper

A GOOD house is built on solid foundations.

And this Witton Albion team is just the same.

Albion have kept six clean sheets this season, including in the five fixtures going into Tuesday night’s FA Cup tie with Belper.

It’s an impressive statistic, and one many teams would love to have.

You’ll have heard many of the top managers down the years speaking about the importance of building from the back. Indeed, most championship-winning teams also have the best defensive records.

Witton boss Carl Macauley has done a marvellous job of getting his side incredibly well drilled and organised so that they’re very tough to break down, and that clean sheet record is certainly no fluke.

We may not have the budget to buy the best players, but organisation, work-rate and preparation will take you some way to achieving positive results, and Albion have those areas covered and it is showing.

Another phrase which is often heard in football is ‘defending from the front’. In Will Jones, James Murray, Danny McKenna, Tom Owens, James Foley and whoever else may occupy the forward positions for Albion, we have a hard-working front line which puts pressure on the opposition defence.

In midfield, we have the tenacity which doesn’t allow opponents time on the ball to create chances, with Billy Smart, Cesaire Lingouba, Ryan O’Hare and co all terrier-like in their displays in the centre of the park.

And then to the defence itself, and we have a well-organised unit which has a good understanding and is improving game on game.

Led by Josh Wardle, who is growing into the captain’s armband, each player knows what is expected of them. And if somebody is caught out, the work ethic comes into action and they are willing to cover one another.

Finally, behind the defence is a young goalkeeper in Chris Renshaw. Many clubs higher up the pyramid seem to be reluctant to give youth a chance between the sticks. It’s an important position, so I can understand to an extent. Everton’s loss is certainly our gain, with the impressive shot-stopper able to keep out anything which gets through the 10 players ahead of him.

It’s that determination, work-rate and organisation which is mightily impressive and it’s a credit to both management staff and players.