Gloucester City vice-captain Joe Hanks has vowed to ‘Do whatever it takes’ to get Gloucester back in the survival fight in the closing stages of the National League North season.
In a season filled with promise by new owners, Gloucester City have fallen harder than anyone could have imagined. The club is in relegation peril, having reached the National League North play-off quarter-finals last season.
Familiar faces, experienced players and a big name manager followed, with plenty of those being failures and already made their way out of the club. One of those who returned and has been vital to all things good this season, is vice-captain Joe Hanks.
In separate spells, the all-action midfielder has made over 150 appearances for the Tigers, and has become a fan favourite. This season Hanks has had to fill in as captain 30 times, due to a long term injury to club captain Spencer Hamilton.
Hanks has stated how the pressure has taken its toll on him, both on and off the field, even going on to say things outside of football change based on results.
“If we lose, which sadly has been on too many occasions this year, I go home and close myself off, I get really frustrated. That’s my personality, I put my all into what I do and it just hurts so much when it doesn’t go our way. It’s not fair on my other half but she understands just how much it means to me and supports me throughout.”
The frustrations certainly are warranted, the two goals conceded to lose 2-1 at home to league leaders Tamworth yesterday were the 20th and 21st goals conceded in the last 15 minutes of matches this season.
“Tonight has really hit the lads, anyone who saw the reaction knows the pain we feel from it. That game shows we have it in us to beat anyone in this league yet we seem to struggle against the teams around us. I’ll hold my hands up, we’ve let everyone down, but if we sit back and say we’re down it can only get worse”
“We’re all working so hard to make it better for everyone, but something isn’t clicking and that needs to change very quickly. Obviously being part-time means we struggle to get together and work on things as often as we like, but that’s something that we try to move past.”
Being a local lad, Hanks also understands the fans distress at the moment, vowing to fight until the end, with 24 points left to play for in the league.
“The fans are brilliant, we appreciate every single one of them, and you can guarantee that a good few will still go to Warrington on Saturday. It will be a tough game, as all of them are at the moment, but all we can do is give it our all. I’m a Gloucester boy through and through, I will do whatever it takes to improve this situation.”
Another defeat on Saturday could be the final nail in the coffin for City, with the gap potentially growing to 14 points with only seven games remaining.
