Bonding: it’s good to talk

ATHLETIC goalkeeper Paul Rachubka starts his exclusive weekly Chronicle column.

IT WAS a great relief that I was able to produce the save from the free-kick that threatened to creep in during the second half against Port Vale.


I had over-compensated massively when setting the wall, blocking off the near post - or so I thought. I got across to push it out and we ended up with a point.

Had it gone in - and it was a decent effort by Michael O’Connor - I would rightly have got the blame. Small margins like those decide where we sit in the league.

The challenge we face as a team at the moment is finding the right balance, with a host of new players still settling in.

We have been operating at two extremes. At the end of last season, we would shut up shop, be more direct and win games 1-0, while this campaign we have been more free-flowing, playing the best football but not having the points to show for it.

From what I see in training every day, everything is there to push on. We are a lot stronger, yet it is very frustrating as it has yet to translate into a victory

Our team trip to the Lake District was very important pre-season. With no mobile phone signals or televisions we were forced to talk to each another! That helped everyone - especially the new players - to get better acquainted and accelerated the bonding process.

When you are living with team-mates 24 hours a day, you can't help but learn what makes them tick. The biggest team bonding tool is winning, but anything you can do to speed up the process is

worthwhile.

When we go into the final 10 games of the season this year I reckon the talk will be about promotion, not how to climb out of trouble. Our task is to translate the quality we know we have into results.