IN: Welcome listeners to the Sounds of the Sea podcast with me Ian Nockolds, and I’m delighted to be joined by The Miners manager, it’s Ryan Child. Ryan, thank you very much for taking the time to speak to us. So, we’ve just come through the Andy Crabtree derby, of course, Warminster against Radstock Town. I mean to be fair to Warminster, they’ve been going very well this season, so it was never going to be an easy game for you. What are your reflections on the 2-2 draw at Southfields?

RC: A fair result, no doubt about that. We started the game well and I thought you know, we’re looking quite good here, Morgan Skipp hit the post in the first couple of minutes. But then, to their credit Warminster kind of worked out a bit of our system, and we knew how they were going to play, we kind of knew that ... I think the quote before the game was that Crabtree is kind of the Sam Allardyce of the Western League. He’s got a system, he knows absolutely how to implement it and his teams are always good, they’re always competitive. So, we knew it was going to be hard and it was difficult, I think they kind of got a hold of us and were probably the better team for the middle portion of the game. And then the last 20 [minutes], as happens, you know, our team are fit. And that’s not to say Warminster aren’t a fit team themselves, because they are, but our team are really fit, I think, actually, for the league. So, we came into it again, and we had chances and we’ve got this strange habit of every time we - a good habit - we like to concede a goal and we’d like to score one straight after. So, this happened against Bishop Sutton, where they scored a goal, we scored from kick-off, they scored we scored from kick-off, and then it happened again against Warminster, and it’s happened a few times this season. So, there are positives to take from us, but it was disappointing that we ... once Warminster got on top, it took us too long to kind of work out what they were doing, and kind of stop that and then get on top again. And I think that we need to work on that a bit so, you know, that’s probably our main takeaway, but we were happy with the point, certainly, after the 90 minutes.

IN: Yeah, they’ve been going well this season. I mean, if we look back over the month of September, obviously we’re halfway through the month of October, but the month of September wasn’t a bad month for you. And then of course, before that Warminster game you had that 2-0 win against Bristol Telephone, so you must be pleased with that.

RC: Yeah, that was good. Telephones are a funny team because they’ve got Danny Golden up front, who’s an old friend of mine. We used to play together when we were younger, so we know how good he is. And you just know if you give them a chance they’ll get a goal, so I was just really happy, defensively, with the back four. We’ve got Rico Sobers, who came in against Lebeq first of all as a right back, he’s usually playing up front, and he hasn’t put a foot wrong. So, whether he’s happy about that, I’m not sure because he’s kind of shot himself in the foot by being so good at right back that now he’s kind of un-droppable. He had a brilliant game against Telephones, the back forward and his brother plays left back, so it was good to see that and that was our first clean sheet of the season, believe it or not, so there were a lot of positives for that game` because it was tough conditions, it was wet and a bit soggy.

IN: I mean, I know when we spoke last, you’d had a difficult start to the season largely because of the circumstances that you were dealt, I know you’d had a lot of injuries and Covid had reared its ugly head and all that sort of nonsense. I mean when we look at the likes of Bristol Telephones, Lebeq and Bishop Sutton, without wishing to be disrespectful, are these teams that really, you’d be expecting to get some points from.

RC: They are but Lebeq are a funny team, Lebeq are a funny team. I mean you can get them on a day, and you’d look around and you’re losing 2- or 3-0 because they’ve got individually a lot of quality. But you know if you can stay into the game that perhaps their concentration isn’t always great, and you can get a result. The Telephones are kind of similar, I think they’re a better team than they have been in the last couple of years, but we would want points certainly against those two teams. Bishop Sutton I think a much better team than they have been for quite a while actually, I would say they’re probably ... they’re definitely a top 10 team this year and they could be a top six team because you know with the lad up front, Oaklan, scoring all the goals he is like you’re always going to do well and he can - when we played him, I mean he just ... we didn’t really give him a sniff apart from the chances he had and he stuck them all away do you know what I mean? So, I think Bishop Sutton actually will be there or there abouts coming into the season.

IN: Now we’re not going to dwell too much on the noisy neighbours, but they are still going strong in the vase and of course you lost out to Arundel. Are you disappointed that that’s a competition you’re not still involved in?

RC: Yeah, I was really disappointed, it was a bad performance, we didn’t turn up. It’s just a case of energy, you know? Coming to a game and really being up for it and there was just something missing. It’s really hard to put your finger on. What I did like is since then we haven’t lost a game and we haven’t lost a game now for … I think it’s seven in total, or it might be eight in total because of the Somerset Cup as well. So, it was a bit of a turning point where we kind of looked at and went, ’Come on lads, this cannot happen, we’ve got too many good players to not turn up.’ There was a turning point at Gillingham in the league, who we’ve got this Saturday, the reverse fixture and then Arundel where it has lifted the team in a way so it’s that old cliche where you put a positive spin on it, but it was disappointing. They had one chance and they scored it and I was gutted on the day, but you know, that’s what happens sometimes you just have to get on with it.

IN: Yeah, you mentioned Gillingham, of course they’re up next and then it’s a trip to Wincanton, and I’m sure you’ll hope that they won’t be at the races for that one. I mean if we look at the league table, I should have mentioned this earlier when we were talking about Telephones and Bishop Sutton and Lebeq, you know, are we at a stage do you think in the season where you can start to look at the table and say when you see your opponents on Saturday, ’I fancy our chances against them now because they’ve clearly not started particularly well’?

RC: I think it’d be a little bit silly to do that looking at the results. Almondsbury beat Sherborne 4-3 the other day, I think Oldland Abottonians lost to someone similar down at the bottom, was it?

IN: Portishead.

RC: Portishead 4-3. The league’s completely crazy and ... even Lebeq, so Lebeq I noticed there’s a player who scored for them the other day, Jennison Williams. Jennison Williams was in the first team at Bristol City when I was at Bristol City so that gives you some kind of scope of ’you never quite know who’s playing for who in this league’ do you know what I mean? So, you might turn up to Wincanton and think, ’okay, they’re probably not performing, a couple of their players have left.’ They might have signed three players that you haven’t - do you know what I mean? So, I’ve been trying to get this into the players, we just have to play every game as if it’s - we do what we have to do, we try and play our own way and again maybe Warminster was a wake up for us because we didn’t play our own way, the lost 20 we probably got back to it but through the game I mean we just fell into this long ball game and that is ... some teams can play long ball and they’re good at it and I don’t have any problem with that and I’m not one of those purists who says, ’oh you should pass the ball’ because actually it works, but we are terrible at it. So, there’s no point us - it’s not that we won’t do it, it’s that if we play long ball, we’re just pretty poor. So, we’ve got to pass the ball and we’ve got to be on the front foot, and we’ve got to press a little bit otherwise it just doesn’t work for us. I actually think that you’ve really got to just try and do what you do every single game and try and get results because you just never know who’s going to beat anyone. Apart from obviously if you’re Welton.

IN: Well, I mean that is a conversation I’m sure we’re going to return to later in this season around Christmastime. My last conversation with Simon Wilkinson, I know the club are looking for a new reserve team manager and if we look back over the recent seasons, the relationship between the under-18s, the reserves and the first team has been really a blueprint actually for all Western League clubs on how you can progress players through and how you can get success, so I guess from your position as first team manager it’s really important that the club get that right.

RC: Yeah, first of all the guys that stepped down; Baz and Anj and Jock, I think Baz has been there for 18 years, you know, unbelievable servant to the club and he’s been brilliant so it’s kind of heart-wrenching that he’s had to leave but it has been difficult, and we need a reserve team. There’s absolutely no question about that, we’ve got a really good under-18s team. Even this year we’ve brought through Lewis Wheeler who’s done fantastic, had a really good performance in the Somerset Cup and has been coming off the bench really well. But when players maybe are not getting in the squad, you know, where do they play on a Saturday? It’s really important that they don’t just suddenly go off to other teams because then we’re really struggle as the first team and like you said, you look at our team now, just off the top of my head; Jack Scrivens, and Morgan Skipp. I mean they’re not just squad players, they’re first team players that play every single week that are vital players for us. Josh Howe played for the under-18s, Luke Ingram obviously has played for - he’s probably played for the tox team and everything he’s been here so long and I’m probably missing a couple. Well, Rico and Pele our right back and our left back actually, the list goes on so yeah, we do need that infrastructure and the thing is, though, they’re working hard they will get it sorted again. I think the reserve teams are going to be playing again this Tuesday Ian Lanning, our under-18s managing and secretary’s going to be taking that over. So yeah, it needs to be a part of the club because like you said it’s such a big steppingstone, yeah, it’s great.

IN: It’s a great club to be involved in, I mean you’d expect me to say that, obviously this is the club’s podcast but when we look at - we’ve talked before about the investment that’s gone on up at the club in terms of the clubhouse which is looking better than it’s ever done in my time up there but also the pitch as well. You’ve got a brand-new fence around the pitch, the club have really tried to invest not just in the ability of the playing side but also the entire environment around the club is one where the club is really progressing forward isn’t it? So, if you’re interested in local football then Radstock Town is definitely a club, on and off the pitch, that is very much worth getting involved with.

RC: Absolutely, and I know they’re always looking for volunteers but - it’s just one of those clubs where everybody just chips in, you know what Simon does for the club, you know what Dave does for the club they do so much. But even those guys I’ve just said; Baz and Anj and Jock, yes, they’ve had to step down from the reserves but they’re still about, they’re still coming to the first team games, they’re still in the clubhouse, they’re still helping out. The amount of work that went in off-season I think most of the reserve players did a shift doing something in there; painting or something, one of our forwards James Rustell did the flooring, you know, so everybody does kind of chip in.

And they’ve done so much and they’re ambitious as well, which obviously is great for me looking forward, because we’ve made it pretty clear that we are looking to try and get promoted, as simple as that. But I keep thinking about, you know, actually you have to get through the playoffs and that is going to be difficult, but that’s certainly our aim and we’re not afraid of that target. We’re definitely going to go for it.

IN: Excellent. Ryan, thank you very much indeed for your time. Remember, remember the middle of November, gunpowder treason and plot. That’s when we’ll be catching up next, on the Sounds of the Sea podcast.