Keep Calm And Stay Focused!

Powers of Recovery Are Key at This Early Stage

So, the season couldn’t have started any better for you. Not only have you come flying out of the starting blocks, but when you look behind you, you see someone has attached a rocket to your back and you’ve scored ten goals in the first three games and find yourself exactly where you want to be.

You begin to think you’re Hannibal from the A-Team, reclining in your office chair, lighting up a big cigar and appreciating how great it feels when your plan comes together.

You don’t admit it publicly, or stray from your poker game face that gives nothing away, but it’s only natural you begin to get ahead of yourself.

There’s an internal conflict. You fight against your natural instincts of self preservation. You know that you should keep your head and not allow yourself to get carried away. Pride comes before a fall, after all.

But in those moments after the first win, then the second and especially the third, thoughts of what might potentially happen come the end of the season begin to enter your mind.

You draw the next game against a newly relegated big boy but ten points out of 12 is still on track.

Then you lose the next game at home and it’s a jolt to the system. You’ve been derailed. You’re still in the mix but you’re still in a part of the season when dropped points can be more costly when it comes to league position.

Three points can cover ten places. It did this week. And although those teams in between winning is a highly unlikely event, that is the difference between the psychology of fighting for promotion or against relegation.

This is what has happened at my old club, Martin Gray’s Darlington.