Tooting & Mitcham boss Wilson: I don’t want score updates on crunch final day of the season

By Richard Cawley

richard@slpmedia.co.uk

Tooting & Mitcham know that have to better Burgess Hill Town’s result tomorrow – but boss Frank Wilson is not interested in score updates involving their drop rivals.

If the West Sussex side win at Harrow Borough then it will send the Terrors down as they have a much worse goal difference.

But at the moment the two clubs are level on points, meaning that Tooting still have everything to play for at Metropolitan Police as they look to retain Bostik League Premier Division status.

“I can think of a scenario where we hear their result that they are drawing and we’re doing the same with 10 minutes to go – and we need to win to stay up,” said Wilson. “Do you translate that message onto the pitch and try and keep an eye on it? I think the honest answer is you don’t.

“All you can do is plan to win the game and whatever the outcome is the outcome. As soon as you try and tamper with it, because of what is going on elsewhere, then you run the risk of losing focus and concentration – not just the players but the staff as well.

“All we need to do this week is focus on winning a game of football on Saturday.”

The agony was written all over the faces of Wilson and his players after last weekend’s 1-0 home loss to Harrow. Burgess Hill’s point against Staines took them out of the sole relegation spot at the expense of the South Londoners.

Wilson said: “It is difficult to try and disguise the disappointment, isn’t it? It wasn’t easy for a lot of us to combat that. But that has been the tale of our emotions and expressions after a lot of games where we could have got more out of them.

“We put in a pretty honest graft and had moments in the games, especially second half, where we should have scored but never did. People won’t like me talking about the opposition but you have got to give credit where it is due because they had a particularly determined defence.

“It was only after we introduced Reis Stanislaus and went 4-4-2 with him and Omar Folkes that we started creating a few more openings. Reis had a couple of chances and was unfortunate he didn’t find the back of the net.

“It was a game we should have at least drawn, if not won it. But we dust ourselves down and just give it a last push on Saturday.

“The mindset will be to win the game but also we have to be cautious in the sense of sticking to the principles we think are going to work to better Burgess Hill’s result. I hope we do give enough for that to be us.”

Tooting won the South Division last season but were pushed all the way by Dorking Wanderers.

Wilson said: “We played under immense pressure and had to go to Dorking on the final day making sure a certain result didn’t happen to secure the title.

“Maybe that experience might help us. Last season at the start we thought ‘what if it came down to the last game?’ We thought we might be in or around the play-offs. Low and behold it did come down to that match.

“This is similar. We didn’t envisage being in this predicament but we were quite honest with our appraisal during the season and knew it could come down to the Met Police game.”