STEVE Farmer has hailed ‘the absolutely immense’ achievement of Bedworth United making the Evo-Stik Southern League Division One Central play-offs.
The Greenbacks were expected to be a million miles away from the promotion reckoning when Farmer took over in the summer, but Saturday’s 5-3 win against second placed Slough Town ensured a top five finish with two games to spare.
Farmer said: “It’s an immense achievement, absolutely immense. At times like this you have to take a step back and see how remarkable it is all things considered.
“If you look at the budget of the team it’s far from the biggest in the league.
“Normally the budget goes a long way to deciding where you will finish in the league.
“After a game in September another manager said to me that a team with our budget would get relegated. We’ve massively proved that wrong.
“At times watching the team you feel like a proud father.
“I’ve had quite a few of the players since they were 16 or 17.
“To see them do so well can only make you proud.”
With a play-off place in the bag, Farmer says the team’s focus must be on winning promotion after wrapping up third place — the highest they can possibly finish.
“It’s important not to rest on our luarels. It’s fantastic for the fans and the players but we’ve got to make sure this is the just the beginning.
“No one remembers the teams that lose in the play-offs, I certainly don’t.
“The immediate aim is to finish third. The big one after that is to get promoted,” he said.
Bedworth have never been in the play-offs before, but Farmer feels that could work to their advantage as most of their rivals have lost in the end of season showdown in recent years.
“The club’s history is a good thing for us. There is no pressure as we’ve got no history in the play-offs.
“A lot of teams around us can’t say that. They’ve been in the play-offs in recent years and failed.
“That will be fresh in their minds,” he said.
Farmer was thrilled with the performance against title chasing Slough as Bedworth ran riot with the free flowing football that made them successful from the start of the season.
“I told the players on Thursday that the way to win is for them to get back to doing what they do best — pass the ball.
“We moved the ball really well against Slough and fully deserved to win. It was great to see them playing with a smile on their faces.
“Slough looked like they had the weight of the world on their shoulders but that wasn’t the case for us,” he said.
