Former Dursley Town player-manager Peter ‘Buster’ Davies has arrived with more ‘routine’ than the student coaches as Josh Carter previews Varsity.
Davies will look to embark on his first voyage with a university side as he will look to put his time with Dursley Town and Stroud Harriers behind him as this will be his managerial role.
The former goalkeeper has also coached at youth level at Forest Green Rovers Academy and has previously played for Gloucester City development, Slimbridge, Shortwood United, Cheltenham Saracens and King’s Stanley.
Josh Carter commented: “Training is good now, we’ve got a coach in and it’s a lot more routine, and we are preparing to how we want to play and how we want to stop Worcester, so training is a lot more organised now and its gone up a level a bit and it’s a bit more intense.”
Carter is one of the players hoping to be seen as a potential starting candidate at Varsity or, at the very least, to be named among the substitutes.
“I think that the new manager definitely made a difference. People probably felt that there was no point in going to training and they might think there will not be as many good drills and it might just be a kick about.
“A lot of people don’t turn up, but there’s only so much you can do to force people to go to training and it definitely hasn’t helped us prepare for games.
“I just have to turn up to every training session like I have done this year, do my best, always give him 100%, and do everything I can to benefit the team, one thing that helps me out is my fitness, I definitely drink a lot less than some people and I don’t vape so that always gives you the edge, but all I can do is try my best for the manager and give it my all.”
Carter does not vape or smoke, but a large majority of the squad does which will be something that Davies will need to cut out.
“I’d say its better in the first team than the second team but yeah, I’d say that my fitness levels are okay, I keep on top of my fitness with a few runs once or twice a week but it’s not rare to see someone vaping in the changing rooms so I wouldn’t say its professional but its good enough.
“When we get closer to the time, a drinking ban will come in a few weeks before the game, so everyone will be taking it seriously.
It has been tricky this season for Carter as his current side University of Gloucestershire Team Two are struggling for form.
“It’s been a tough season, we are bottom of the league, but the way we’ve played, we don’t deserve to be where we are.
“I think most games we have given teams a good game, like last week we played top of the league Exeter, and we went down there with three’s (Team Three) and a few two’s (Team Two) players and we almost beat them, we were 2-1 up and then we gave away a penalty in the second half which let us down a bit but I’d say we’ve been a bit unlucky this season.
“We definitely should have picked up a few more points in places, but hopefully the one’s (Team One) being in good form will take over the two’s bad form.”
Preparation for a mentally-challenging encounter against University of Worcester will be the focus of the team heading into the run-in.
“We just have to prepare adequately and I think man for man we have a really good squad of players here so if we all take it seriously, we can definitely beat Worcester and the One’s this season are having a great season and they’re used to playing with each other.
“With the addition of a few good two’s players into the mix, I don’t think there will be many universities as good as us.
I just need to make sure the manager notices me and its down to me to make that happen and every small gain is a benefit.”
The Varsity encounter will take place on Wednesday, March 20 from 2PM.
