Gillingham assistant manager John Schofield writes exclusively for the KM Group
John Schofield has been busy doing his bit
this week to clear the Priestfield pitch of the ice and snow.
Picture: Barry Goodwin
There were several members of staff suffering with bad
backs this week but it was all for a good cause.
We spent several hours on Monday getting the snow off the
Priestfield pitch so we could get a training session on.
When we peeled back the covers, the pitch was great. It looked
fantastic underneath and we managed to get an hour’s football into
all of the lads, on the grass, so it was a great worthwhile
exercise.
The weather has certainly not stopped us and along with lots of
snowball fights and messing about, we have had some good
sessions.
On Monday morning, a five-inch layer of snow on the training
pitch didn’t stop us.
We did some handball which is good for our passing and movement.
You can’t pass through people so we were having to make those same
angles that you would to pass the ball and worked on keeping
possession of the ball and working our way up the pitch.
We also did a crossing and finishing exercise with plenty of
running and movement.
So, having had the weekend off because of the postponement at
Rochdale, we had a fun, physical session and it started the week
off well ahead of the visit of York on Saturday.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t just my back that was killing from all
that shovelling of snow. I also have a big cut to my nose from
diving and messing about in the snow.
York have done fantastic to get back into the Football League,
having been relegated to the Conference.
There was an old adage that if you stayed full-time and went
down, you would come straight back up.
It’s now the norm to be full-time and there are some good teams
in the Conference. What York have done is add good players. They
have a good manager and are well organised.
Read more from John Schofield in Friday's
Medway Messenger.
24/01/13
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