Justin Fevrier was in upbeat mood after his Corinthian-Casuals side picked up their first away win of the season at Billericay Town on Saturday.
The 2-1 win, secured thanks to a glorious first-half free kick from Luke Stokoe and a poacher’s goal for Lewis Croal in his first start for the club, lifts the team to 19th place in the Isthmian Premier Division, and left the manager feeling positive about the progress we have made since he took over at the end of October.
“I think the boys were absolutely brilliant, from start to finish,” he said on the coach journey back from Essex. “I think we took the game to them and we were the better team on the day. There was pressure, that we dealt with well, but I felt that when we imposed our patterns of play on them, they couldn’t cope with us.
“I think a lot of teams now will take us seriously,” he added. “We’ve come in seven or eight weeks ago now, and had the season started then we’d be in a very different position, so I think teams are going to show us more respect when they play us because we’re a different team now.”
It was Fevrier’s third win in six league fixtures since taking over as manager, and when asked what he has done to trigger an upturn in results and performances since coming to the club, he revealed that the most important aspect of his work was setting standards for behaviour on and off the pitch.
“First, I introduced the culture and I’ve been implementing it by keeping reminding the boys of all the things they need to do to be successful,” he explained. “It’s working, they’re buying into it and the ones who were not buying in are not here anymore. The culture is really important – to live the values – and that’s why we’re getting results right now, because they’re working hard for each other. Maximum effort is the minimum requirement.”
The next fixture for Casuals is a six-pointer, as we travel to Essex for the second weekend running to take on a Bowers & Pitsea team that are one place below us in the table.
“This is a massive game,” said Fevrier, “but we have to just go again, do the same things, with the same work rate, play the same football, and look to get another result towards our next objective, which is to get out of the bottom four. Let’s go and get the three points!”