Broadbridge Heath boss Painter: '˜Our feet are firmly on the ground'

Broadbridge Heath boss Steve Painter is pleased that his side has shaken off the tag as a village club, and is ecstatic that his side can now compete with the so-called heavy hitters of the league.
Steve PainterSteve Painter
Steve Painter

The Bears are sixth in the league, and unbeaten in four, as they go in to Saturday’s home game against AFC Uckfield Town. Last weekend, Broadbridge Heath were amongst a host of clubs that fell foul of the weather, but for them this was the second successive match that had been postponed.

“It’s all going so well, then it gets whipped from under your feet. We’re disappointed because obviously you can’t control the weather. We are in really good form and the last game against Newhaven we were brilliant, and I was really looking forward to the Arundel game.”

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Broadbridge Heath’s form has led to renewed optimism around the club, however Painter was quick to dispel any notions that the club were getting carried away, and that he plans to tell his squad to take each game as it comes.

“Each season we’ve improved our points tally, and that’s our aim. If we improve from last season, that’s top four, but we’ve got to keep going.

“You hear some clubs getting carried away saying we’re Ryman League, but you aren’t Ryman League until you get there.

“Our feet are firmly on the ground.”

Painter was also pleased that the way Broadbridge Heath as a football club is viewed has changed.

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“The Bears boss believes that his side are no longer viewed as a small club, and that they thoroughly deserve their status as a Southern Combination Football League Premier club due to their recent set of results.

People look at us like a village club, but we’re showing them now we aren’t anymore.

“The top four are good sides with massive budgets and for us to break in to that top four would be brilliant. I say to our lads now, we are no longer slipping underneath the radar.

“I’m tempting fate a bit, but what we seemed to have done is, even when we aren’t at our best, start grinding out results.

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“The work ethic we have in this squad is brilliant, the lads really do work hard for me. My management team always say that to the lads.”

Up next for the Bears is an encounter with 14th placed AFC Uckfield Town, who Painter believes are a better side than their league positons suggests. After this fixture, the Bears will face off against top of the table Shoreham, and Painter stressed that his side must not get complacent against Uckfield.

“We played Uckfield twice in quick succession, once in the league, and once in the cup, and they seemed like two totally different sides. On the weekend it was comfortable for us, but during the week in the cup they were a much bigger threat.

“We can’t take them lightly, especially when we have Shoreham coming up. It would be very easy to have one eye from Shoreham, and think that’s the game we want to win, but we have to beat Uckfield first.”

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