Slimbridge manager Tom Deakin endured a slightly different Saturday to normal, as he was required to help out his side by making a cameo in the last 10 minutes of the Swans’ 3-1 defeat at Barnstaple.
“On Friday night, we had a couple of players drop out of the squad, and with the current fatigue within the squad it felt like the right thing to do. It’s not something I’m too keen on or am too desperate to do again.
“I’m just happy to help the club, I’ve been here for seven years now so I’ll do anything I can do to help.”
Deakin’s Slimbridge have endured a challenging start to the season off the back of making their return to the Southern Premier League South for the first time since the 2022/23 season. The Swans currently sit in the relegation zone, only picking up three wins in their opening 14 encounters.
“It’s been frustrating at times. We’ve been in a lot of games and there’s been moments in games where if the ball was to fall for us we could take the lead and things would look very different.
“The cup run we have had had an effect on our rhythm in the league and that’s meant we’ve been playing catch up and playing lots of games in a short space of time.
“We’ve shown with our result and performances that we do belong in this league but we just have to be a bit more consistent with certain performances.”
Deakin will be hoping his side utilise their week off effectively and return to full fitness ahead of next Saturday’s important clash against second place side Weymouth.
