​Sleaford Town boss Matt Evans enjoying challenge after club 'hit reset button'

​Those are the words of Sleaford Town boss Matt Evans, who took the helm at Eslaforde Park back in September following the departure of player-manager Tom Ward.

It wasn’t as simple as just taking over Ward’s team and building on what was left behind. Huge budget cuts at the club would mean an inevitable exodus of current players and the need for much more financially viable new ones.

But it was a challenge Evans was ready and willing to take on, and one that so far he’s enjoying.

He said: “Things have settled down a bit after a chaotic first few weeks where there was a lot of change, not just in the financial position but then with players moving on and also because things were done a certain way previously and I was brought in to do it differently.

"It’s been quite hard as it can be quite emotive for some, but I think things settled down about a month ago and we’re now stabilising much more as the new faces settle in.

"I’m pleased we’ve been able to get a team out each week – it could have been a lot worse but as a group, and by that I mean management and the board, the club’s been stopped from imploding and we’re now continuing to try and set things up for next year and to progress.

"We’ve essentially had to hit the reset button. But none of this was a surprise to me as we'd talked about it when I came in and I wanted a challenge.

"As I’ve said before, I live locally, have been around the club due to my wife and kids all playing for various teams, and it was almost too intriguing to turn down and I was too curious as to what we could do.

"I still think that. It’s hard but it’s a battle worth fighting.”

Evans inherited not only the previous regime’s team but also its points tally, meaning the numerous changes at least took place with a 16-point ‘head start’ rather than zero had the season not yet started.

Ahead of last weekend’s home game with Belper United, an impressive away win against the same team plus three draws had featured in Evans’ reign so far.

He said: “One of the biggest issues we had to address revolved around discipline, in that we’d had too many sin bins, cards for the management team and so on, which created the pressure of additional fines when money was already low.

"But a big factor has also been the influx of players. They’ve all been lads who wanted to come and be part of it, which is brilliant as it’s not meant we’ve had to scratch teams together.

"Those players don’t have the levels of experience our opponents do – I think in one game the opposition centre-forward had more experience than our entire 16 combined – but that just sums up where we are at right now.

"It’s about us getting through the next 20/25 games because that in turn will give our players more experience and they’ll be less naive and green.

"It’s about being patient and reminding them it’s a process. As hard as it is to draw a a game when you’ve been in a winning position, we’ve gained more experience and have more learning to do which is OK.

"We can’t just go out and get ready-made players. Sleaford doesn’t have that option available. We are bringing players in who want to prove a point, perhaps those from step four or five who want to be here and show they’re capable of playing at this level if they felt they didn’t have a chance before.

"That’s the mentality we want. The intrinsic motivation is key – you can’t have players who are not desperate to improve and prove a point.

"We had 22 at training last week, all in that mindset. They listen too – our staff have more coaching badges than most teams at our level and above and the sessions put on are designed to improve the players, whereas a more established player might not value it as much as a young player who gets more from it.”

Whilst it’s very much a project for the future at Sleaford, the present is important too and key to moving forwards will be remaining at step five.

That means points will need to continue to flow, but Evans says expectation needs to be managed.

He said: “I’m keen for us to get some more wins just to keep us out of danger.

"You’ve got to keep in mind the whole club is on a journey and you have to walk before you can run, and although it might seem slow and steady compared to what people might want, I want us to be able to look back with pride in a few months’ time once the players have got used to each other, the level, and things have moved on more naturally and they have a better understanding.

"Hopefully the training we do is accelerating that pace and people can see we’re working hard and that the discipline is better.

"Other things are progressing too but we’ll always want more. The aim has to be to stay up and I’m confident we’ve got enough to do that.

"That’s not being defeatist and saying that third bottom will always be satisfactory, that’s not the case.

"We need more goals but they are starting to come more from open play now which was an issue at first, and the players are taking more risks and believing in themselves more so we just have to keep going and the results will come.”