Woods: We’ll shock people

Mar 2 2008 Sunday Sun

DAVE WOODS reckons his Gateshead Thunder players can shock away to their hearts’ content this season.

Thunder head coach Woods believes there are already people amazed his men have won three from four matches in the Northern Rail Cup this term.

And with York City Knights at the Gateshead Stadium this afternoon (kick-off 3pm), Woods reckons his men can continue to bamboozle the uninitiated.

Woods said: “I think people will be a little bit shocked already with how we have gone, but we don’t care about that, we care about winning.

“We’ve still got loads of work to do, but we are enjoying doing it.

“Hopefully people will stand up and take notice, and continue to do that as long as we continue to play well.

“We didn’t have the player strength or preparation time last year but this year we have, and it’s starting to show already, the fitness levels the boys have and the way they train.

“It’s hard to say whether it’s good or bad – we’ve got York again first round of the league, then Hunslet again third or fourth round.

“All we’re doing is preparing as best we can and trying to win every game.”

While the team as a whole is shocking in the right sense thus far, so are some of Woods’ players with their individual efforts.

And Woods was quick to praise the immediate impact of several of his squad, saying: “Dean Jamieson is going really well, doing a good job for us.

“He’s got a little bit of experience – he is still learning the game but he has done some real good things for us and we’re expecting a lot more from him.

“Ryan Clarke has already improved out of sight from last year, and everyone will be blown away with Stu Kain by the end of the year.

“Everyone will be really surprised by him – for his size he has a lot of speed around the field.”

Woods does not have to reiterate kind words for the likes of captains Dan Russell, Tabua Cakacaka and Neil Thorman, and he reckons the balance between new and old players is working well.

He said: “The new guys have bedded in well and everything is going OK – if we get the win today against York we are through to the next round and we can kick on from there as we look towards the start of National League Two.

“But if we take our eyes off the prize we’ll get what we deserve.”