Continuity Is The Secret To South Park’s Success

By Liam Morgan

SOUTH PARK manager Joe McElligott feels stability is the key to success after his side clinched the Combined Counties Premier Division title last weekend.

The Sparks’ 1-0 win over nearest challengers Camberley Town ensured promotion to Ryman Division One South – and McElligott puts their triumph down to the unity within his squad.

The result last Saturday means the Sparks will start next season as a Step 4 club – the highest level in their history.

McElligott told The NLP: “It’s been a learning experience that we’ve all gone through together.

“We’ve had the same players for a while now, some of them have played nearly 250 games for the club and a lot of them have played at least 100.

“We’re not talking about old heads here – these are guys that are still young but have come through the youth system at the club and you can see that in the way they all fight for each other.

“Every year we’ve looked to improve the players that we’ve got and we’re all delighted it’s come together.”

South Park are now setting their sights on the 100 point mark, although McElligott admits the players may find motivation difficult in their remaining matches.

“I think they might be psychologically damaged now they’ve won it!” he laughed.

“Winning the league with four games to go has allowed us to have an early celebration and we’re delighted with the outcome.

“But we’ve still got some tough matches to come and we’ll be looking to pick up as many points as we can.

“To be honest the main emotion is relief as when you progress in the way we have the expectation grows so I was pleased to get the job done.”