By Jonathan Brown
IT’S been a tough start to life as Newcastle Town manager for Ryan McConville, with the local side picking up two wins in ten games in all competitions, losing eight.
Following a 7-2 victory over Portaferry Rovers on Saturday, Town sit 11th in Division 1B of the Amateur League.
The local side are already out of the Irish Cup, the Steel and Sons Cup and the Border Cup.
McConville told the Mourne Observer why it hasn’t been an ideal start and revealed his ambitions for Newcastle as a club.
Appointed three weeks before the start of the season, he says the Seasiders have been unlucky, particularly in league games.
“The players know, I know, the board know that the results haven’t been what we wanted, but I also believe we’ve been unlucky in some games.
“Against Bangor Amateurs, we were winning 2-0 at half time, we end up getting beat 3-2. We went to Grove, and in the first 30-35 minutes we’re winning 2-0, we get beat 6-3.
“We do have a lot of ability and the quality to take the lead in games, but what we know we need to learn is matching these Amateur League teams.”
They haven’t had the rub of the green in knockout competitions either, drawing established Amateur League sides Crumlin Star in the Steel and Sons Cup and Kilmore Rec in the Irish Cup.
“Obviously as a manager you want to try and have a cup run and go as far as you can but we’ve been so unlucky in the draws.
“We drew Kilmore Rec who are a 1A team and Crumlin Star, who are one of the best teams in the Amateur League,” McConville said.
In the full story Ryan explains the attitude his team need to get better results going forward.