Top-five in Isthmian South Central is the ‘minimum’ for Westfield, says boss Ian Selley
A mix of personalities, noise and experience is driving Westfield in their push for promotion, according to manager Ian Selley. The former Arsenal midfielder took the reins at the Woking[1] club in February, guiding them to a 12th-place finish in the Isthmian League South Central in 2022-23. But with a pre-season now under his belt, and some new additions from former club Chertsey[2] Town, including winger Gary Abisogun who arrived this week on loan from Slough Town, Westfield are looking firmly up the table rather than down it.
Westfield currently sit ninth in the table, having played fewer games than the majority of the sides above them, and Selley sees a top-five finish as the “minimum” for his side.
Action from Westfield’s win over Chipstead
He said: “Generally, we’ve played very well so far this season. We’ve had a full game where we didn’t play very well against Uxbridge and then probably three 45 minutes where we haven’t been where we need to be. “But apart from that, things have been great and we’ve played some good football.
We’ve always created loads and loads of chances although we could probably finish more of them than we do.
Westfield manager Ian Selley
“There is a good buzz around the place; the changing room is a good place. Compared to last season where we didn’t really have any personalities, now we do and we have some noise in there and some experience in there. “We have some young lads as well that are still learning the game.
“The plan is the play-offs and I don’t see any reason why, given what I’ve seen of the league so far, that we can’t reach them.
Action from Westfield’s win over Chipstead
“We have had a lot of cup games so we’re playing catch up with league fixtures. It’s great that we have two or three games in hand, but you’d rather have the points on the board. “We want to do well in the cup as well, but we’re thinking play-offs is the minimum.
We’ve beaten five out of the top six teams in the division at the moment. I think it’s wide open at the minute.
“It’s about just collecting the points and getting the results, and then towards the back-end of the season, making a proper push for it.” Westfield’s most recent three points came at home to Chipstead on Saturday.
Action from Westfield’s win over Chipstead
Despite dominating the opening period, Westfield fell behind to the east Surrey side’s first real opportunity – Lewis Taylor’s deflected shot finding a way past Sonny Wheeler.
The hosts made Chipstead weather a storm of opportunities, although a combination of good defending and poor finishing kept the score at 1-0. However, just before half-time, and seconds after failing to score a much easier opportunity, Jake Baxter struck a ball from the edge of the box that lifted over goalkeeper Harrison Firth, then over the head of defender Danny Dudley on the line to drop into the top left-hand corner.
Westfield’s Jake Baxter
From that point onwards there was only going to be one winner, with Westfield captain Luke Elliott putting his side ahead just after half-time before Andrew Crossley put the icing on the 3-1 win in the 84th minute, capitalising on a mistake from the Chipstead keeper. The only negative for Westfield was a silly red card for Caleb Wright late in the game for an unnecessary foul on Chipstead’s Chad Goulter.
“We weren’t particularly happy at half-time,” Selley said. “Our passing wasn’t great.
But Chipstead aren’t a bad side; they are hard to play against and they will get results against other teams. “The objective was to get three points and move onto the next one, which we’ve done.
Action from Westfield’s win over Chipstead
“The finishes were good. Overall, we’ve probably had about eight or nine chances and the keeper has made a couple of good saves, but we probably should have done better with a couple more.
“Jake has a habit of scoring some good goals. He has a reputation for scoring from inside the 18-yard box but this season he’s added something different to his game. He’s getting a bit older but still adds a lot to the team.
Westfield’s Caleb Wright and Chipstead’s Chad Goulter
“I said to them after the game; sometimes when you don’t play your best but you still get results, that is the sign of a good team.
We aren’t always going to be Barcelona; probably 30 or 40 per cent of the games will be exactly like this one so it’s about getting the result.”
Westfield travel to promotion rivals Raynes Park Vale on Saturday before an away game in the Surrey Senior Cup next Wednesday against Kingstonian.