Bards boss keeps faith with his star striker
CALLUM Ebanks will be back among the goals before long according to Stratford Town’s head coach Paul Davis.
The 22-year-old striker has yet to score in 2025 with his last goals coming in the 3-3 draw with Kettering Town at the end of December.
His barren spell means midfielder Dan Lafferty is currently the Bards’ leading scorer with ten goals in all competitions with Ebanks one behind him.
“Callum Ebanks is going to hit some form at some point and he will win us games on his own,” Davis said. “Until that happens, other players are chipping in with goals.
“He is still working hard and occupies defenders. It’s important that we are not relying on one player to score all the goals over the course of a season because if you take them out of the team then you are going to struggle.
“We all have to remember that he is a young lad and when you go through a period of games without scoring then it gets to you, the same as losing a game gets to the group.
“We are fully behind him and I know the supporters are fully behind him. He will come good. He keeps getting in the positions, it would be more of a concern if he wasn’t doing that.”
Goals from Paul McCone and substitute Charlie Williams were enough to claim the points on Saturday in a 2-1 win at Lowestoft Town, the longest trip of the season for the Bards.
And the 360-mile round trip was not the only thing the players had to contend with.
Davis added: “It was the worst pitch I have ever seen to be honest. I tip my hat to all the volunteers who try and work on these pitches especially with the weather we’ve had but it looked as though they had had a game on it in the morning. It was horrendous.
“Walking across it in trainers and your feet were sinking. You have to adjust to those things.
“The main thing on Saturday was to try and get the travel out of everyone’s head. Thankfully we got there in plenty of time so that they could take in the surroundings and stretch their legs.
“I felt like it was a professional performance. We missed a couple of gilt-edged chances to go further in front and they missed a couple. The goal right at the death for them was a bad one for us to concede but Paul McCone and Jake Weaver don’t make many mistakes so to make one 30 seconds from the end when the game is won isn’t too bad.
“I thought we probably had another gear and we could have gone and got another goal.”
The Bards host Royston Town on Saturday and Davis has a fulluy-fit squad to choose from.
“Everyone is fit again so we have some difficult decisions to make to try and pick 16 players to win a game of football,” he explained. “Royston are a big, strong physical side and they can mix it a little now that they have changed their manager.
