Skipper urges side to bounce back
Stafford Rangers acting captain Bobby Wilson has issued a rallying cry to his team-mates with the message - 'we have the ability to beat anybody.'
The team incured the wrath of manager Chris Brindley at the weekend after closing out pre-season with a 2-0 home defeat to Hednesford, their sixth defeat in eight friendly fixtures.
Rangers now must pick themselves up for the opening day of the season on Saturday, with a trip to repreived Hyde United kicking off 2009/10.
Wilson is expected to lead the way and has told his team-mates they are capable of making last season's relegation fight a distant memory.
According to the skipper, all they have to do is believe in themselves.
He said: "The players at this football club are good enough, for me we are on a par technically man-to-man with any team in this league. I would take all of my team-mates over a lot of people in the Blue Square North, that is how much I believe in us.
"It's just a matter of getting it right and when it clicks it's going to be good. It's the confidence in the team that is the issue, we need to sort our morale out and we will be fine. We shouldn't go to Hyde worrying, we are more than capable of beating them.
"If we start well, I think we will surprise a few people with what we can actually do."
The words 'unacceptable,' 'shocking' and 'abysmal' were used by Brindley to describe's Saturday display against the Pitmen.
Now Wilson has called on his fellow players to show the manager they are worthy of wearing the black and white stripes of Rangers.
The 20-year-old believes a bright opening to the season on Saturday will banish the memory of that defeat completely.
He said: "It was awful and we were awful. But, at the end of the day, it was a pre-season friendly.
"Lets put it into prospective - if you ask our manager whether he would prefer to lose most of the pre-season games and win on the opening day, what do you think he would say?
"What we cannot allow to happen is the doom and gloom carrying on until we kick off the season. We are a confidence team, once we get a decent result we will kick on from there.
"The boys just have to keep their chins up and we can do it."
