Paul Oddy believes Saturday will be the day when Woodford United pick up their first league point.
The Reds travel to AFC Hayes, hoping to end a pointless run which has spanned 19 games this season. And joint boss Oddy says his side are raring to go after a frustrating festive period that saw a number of their games postponed.
Woodford’s home ground Byfield Road has been hit hard by the rain, with Oddy admitting the club’s pitch is ‘the worst in the league’.
And he’s now relishing the return to action this weekend as the Reds look to close the gap on North Greenford.
“I think Saturday could be the day we get our first point,” said Oddy. “We’ll give it a good go. What we need is four or five wins from now until the end of the season.”
And on the state of the Byfield Road pitch, Oddy added: “It’s been an absolute nightmare. The Woodford pitch is probably the worst I’ve ever known. It’s the worst pitch in the league for sure. The drainage is poor and it’s disappointing that money wasn’t spent on it during the summer.
“We’ve got a good squad of 16 players here and it’s been frustrating that we’ve only played once over the festive period because the lads want to put things right.”
Oddy has revealed the difficulty his side face in comparison to others due to the limited budget at his disposal. The boss, who runs the Reds alongside Pete Harris, has lost two senior players, Gokhan Ulker and Rashid Koriya, to UCL Premier Division strugglers Wellingborough Town recently.
And he said: “We’ve got a young team. We’ve only got two or three lads in their 20s and the rest are 16, 17 or 18. Myself and Pete are doing this job because we want to keep Woodford in the Southern League but our budget is only £300 compared to other clubs who can pay between £1,000 and £2,5000 a week.
“Our lads are getting £20 per game compared to other teams paying between £100 and £150. Some UCL clubs are paying more than us.”