Midfielder Taylor Charters scored a goal on Tuesday night that will be right up there when it comes to deciding who or what is to get the end of season accolades and, with him having started the last three games, he’s become a great example of taking the opportunity whenever it comes along.
“I think he’s done really well,” manager Paul Simpson told us. “He’s given us some energy and physicality and a bit of balance with his left foot.
“It was a fantastic strike for the goal. I’m not sure he would have come into this season thinking he was going to be on the fringes, but unfortunately he picked up an injury in pre-season which kept him out for a long time.
“But since he got fit he’s trained really well, performed well in the games and in the County Cup game at Cleator Moor. He’s done very, very well and he’s making it difficult to leave him out.
“I think that’s down to his enthusiasm to work. That sounds like a really basic thing, but he’s just showing a desire to work and get about the pitch.
“On Tuesday night I gave him a little bit of a different role, when I made the first change, I moved him from playing wide on the left to play as a Number 10, and I told him that when we didn’t have the ball, to be around Falkingham to stop him from playing.
“When we had it, I asked him to find little pockets, and that’s how his goal came about. The shot he had, that’s a real strength if he’s got a left foot like that. I think you’ve got to have a couple of left footers in your side.
“I’m biased but I think they’re the best players, the left footers. I like to have that balance of a lefty in the side and Taylor’s giving us that. As long as he keeps working like he is, competing like he is and producing the stuff, he deserves to stay in the side.”
“It’s fantastic for the football club when young players make an impression, that’s what we want,” he continued. “We talked the other week about having four Cumbrians on the pitch. That’s good for our club. We want to bring our own players through.
“There isn’t bundles of players coming through the academy at the moment so we’re really fortunate we’ve got these lads who are in the team and performing, and not just there to make up the numbers.
“They’re there because they deserve to stay in the side. The challenge for them is to stay in even longer. As we go through the next few weeks, if we stay injury free, we’re going to have more bodies back and available. They’ve got to do everything they can to make sure they’re still involved in the 11 or 18.”
Keeping up the Cumbrian theme at Harrogate was Owen Moxon, who netted the dramatic late equaliser after just about every outfield player had a hand in keeping it alive.
“He’s handling it well since joining in the summer but the truth is they’ve all got areas to work on,” the gaffer commented. “Mox is no different.
“He needs to achieve a level of consistency in his performances, not just from game to game but from 15-minute block to the next 15-minute block.
“Tuesday night, he kept trying to force things a little bit too much and trying diagonal balls and giving it away. I don’t want to discourage that because when it comes off it’s a brilliant bit of football.
“But you’ve got to recognise moments in games. We had it on Tuesday, we’re having a spell where they’ve got the ball, retaining possession, keeping it, we get ourselves back into shape and win it, and we have to be able to switch from an out of possession shape and intensity, to a calmer head where we keep the ball ourselves instead of trying to force passes and give the ball away cheaply.
“Suddenly we’re back to out of possession. It’s how to manage yourself in games, but Mox isn’t alone in that, that’s as a group. That’s why we are where we are, there is that inability to manage those situations but he’ll certainly get better.
“He’s already getting better, he came from Annan at a really good level, he’s improved already, and he’ll keep improving if he wants to.”
“We haven’t had any conversations about his contract situation, to be honest with you,” he confirmed. “The only way you get a player to sign a longer contract is to give them more money. He isn’t going to sign the same contract for longer.
“The truth is we don’t have any more money, there’s no point beating ourselves up about it. We are where we are, we’ve got him signed, on a decent contract, he isn’t going to go in January or in the summer unless somebody comes and offers us a lot of money that’s going to secure our financial future as a football club.
“He’s our player. We want him to stay. I think he’ll really develop if he stays and plays regular first team football. I’m certainly not trying to sell him.
“His performances will be what gets him a sale if that’s going to happen. We’re not discussing contracts because we have them all contracted, we know who’s got options, who can be with us for next year as well if we want them.
“We’ll deal with that over the next few months, or if the club decide to leave it to the summer we’ll have to do that and crack on with it.”
