"Like a steam train" – how Lichfield City stormed to the title
Lichfield City boss Ivor Green praised his side for being ‘mentally tough’ as they bounced back from a ‘blip’ against Stone Old Alleynians to seal the title, writes Dan Hickey.
They scored 11 in their last two Midland League Premier Division games to confirm the title with a game to go and now are determined to try and beat Congleton’s 2023/24 points tally of 81.
They face 12th-placed Romulus at home on Saturday (3pm) without the pressure of a title-race behind them, as Shifnal Town pushed but could not close the four-point gap.
He said: “We really didn't want to see it out to the last game, would have been a very nervous week!
“After losing in the play-off final last year, this was the goal and the lads have worked their socks off to get this, they really have, and were outstanding on Saturday.
“You could see in the first five minutes how much they wanted it, and they were just not going to let it disappear this time. Chuffed to bits.”
The 3-0 win at Whitchurch Alport was City’s fifth clean-sheet win in their last six games, with their only loss in the last nine league games coming against Stone Old Alleynians, which coincided with Shifnal losing 4-3 to Highgate United.
Green added: “You're always going to have a blip, you just are, and that was that day.
“We missed a chance in the first half. We had a header from a yard out, missed it and you're thinking this could be one of them days – and it was.
“But then, obviously, to recover as well as we did just shows how mentally tough they were to make sure they saw this through.
“We trained on the Wednesday and never even spoke about the Stone game. It was done and gone.
“Everything we did was focused on the games coming up. We did a little tweak in terms of the way we were going to approach. It was just front foot, ‘we're going to go at it like a steam train and what will be will be’.
“But we made a conscious decision. We were going to be that team: no caution, no nerves, no worry.
“And it paid off. The lads were absolutely brilliant.
“We want to beat Congleton's points tally last year which was 81 points and we’re determined to try and beat that now. We've had little targets all year, we're currently the top goal scorers in the league and we want to try and keep that.”
