SJR Worksop boss says there is still plenty to shout about despite wrecked season

SJR have progressed well on and off the pitch.

But for SJR Worksop, despite playing little to no football for most of the year, their fortunes have gone against the grain.

Their season might have gone down in the record books as ‘null-and-void’ before a promotion reprieve. But as boss Andrew Guest explains, there’s still plenty to shout about.

“Our first season in the Central Midlands League was a huge success,” Guest explains. “We were classed as one of the favourites for the league, but new teams like Boynton and Nottingham had strong squads, and Epworth were desperate to get out of the division.

Developing young talent from across Worksop remains a key focus.

“To go unbeaten and pick-up big wins against Boynton and Nottingham were the highlights. It was obviously gutting not to be crowned champions because we only needed one win from our last four games. Thankfully, two months later we were offered promotion anyway.”

Guest also believes the picture is bright for the female side of things with the club’s girls and women’s team shining.

“Our Women’s team have been incredible since coming under the club’s name. The girls couldn’t have represented us as a club any better – they’ve even played in the FA Cup which was a huge moment for us to say we were once a Sunday League team.

“We now have two Women’s teams, development squad and the senior team all thriving. It’s amazing when you think about where we were a couple of years ago.

Boss Andrew Guest is taking the positives from the disrupted season.

“We now have a total of ten junior teams, and we have a soccer school in place to keep the conveyor belt moving by bringing in a new boys and girls team every year. The vision is to have boys’ and girls’ teams at each age group.”

It forms part of a bigger picture at the club as they look to continue their expansion.

Next on the agenda is the possible creation of an U18 side to feed into the exisiting development team.

Guest added: “The development team themselves have had a great start to the season under manager Danny Scott, only losing once since they started. Most of the players are 21 and under and the improvement in most of them since that first trial is unreal.”

“Even during our Sunday League days we’ve always looked to bring young players through. Our first title-winning team had an average age of 22, with seven of us in that team having played together since we were kids.

“We’ve always sacrificed dominating leagues, to keep the conveyor belt of players coming through and now we’re at a higher level of football that won’t change.

“We want the club to have a base of senior players that are loyal and mix them with younger players coming through from both our junior and development teams.”