Newark RFC : Coach aiming for new year promotion push

Coach Ben Buxton wants Newark to maintain their consistency as they push for promotion when the second half of the season begins.

The club are in second place in the Midlands Division Two East (North) after a run of four successive victories.

They go into the new year ten points behind leaders West Bridgford with a game in hand, as they look to gain promotion back to Midlands Division One East.

Newark were relegated from the division at the end of the 2015-16 season, and after a season of consolidation they are now in a position to push forward.

Their last victory came against third-placed Coalville, and Buxton said it was important they kept their winning run going.

“Our win at Coalville was pretty important moving into Christmas,” he said.

“We had built up some momentum and were on a high.

“Coalville were one of the teams in and around us near the top so getting the victory put a bit of daylight between us.

“This season we haven’t lost any matches unfairly or been second-best when we have won. We deserve to be in the position we are.”

'We are realising we are a good team'

He said confidence was finally spreading through the squad after a period of self-doubt.

“Our recent success is more to with the fact we are realising we are a good team,” he said.

“When you come off a season where you have been relegated people start to doubt if they are a good team or a good player.

“Last year we showed glimpses of what we were capable of and this year we are starting to believe in what we are doing and believing in our own abilities.

“Doing that breeds confidence across the squad and we are now winning the games where we had been going behind.

“We have grown as a side mentally knowing we can come back from adversity, and last year those are the sort of games we would have lost.”

Buxton said the team need to stay focused, even though thoughts of promotion would enter people’s minds.

“We would like to get promoted, and it’s no secret when you are second that it’s going to enter your thought process,” he said.

“Our destiny is in our own hands if we maintain the consistency of performance.

“In the past Newark haven’t been perceived as a physical side, but after some acquisitions and players returning we do have those attributes now.”

Newark next travel to Ilkeston on January 6.