Flackwell Heath hit reset and embrace rebuild after striker exodus

Flackwell Heath have lost five strikers from last season’s promotion challenging squad, including Wiktor Makowski and Michael Harding (above). Photo: Glenn Alcock

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Flackwell Heath have lost all five of their centre forwards from last season’s promotion challenging squad, however, boss Chris Ayres is hopeful they’ve brought in adequate replacements across the front line who can help the side challenge at the right end of the table once again.

Flackwell finished third in the league last season - having only been promoted the season before. They went on to reach the play-off final against Berkhamsted, with top scorer Wiktor Makowski scoring twice in their semi-final victory over Barton Rovers at Wilks Park.

They were heavily beaten in that final, going down 5-0 to the Comrades - with Makowski sent off for dissent in the second half - however, they were still only 90 minutes away from being promoted to step 3, and Ayres firmly believes they’ll be competitive at this level once again.

He concedes they’ll no longer by the league’s dark horses or surprise package, and others will have to step up to replace the goals of Wiktor Makowski, Michael Harding, Jethro Odumosu, Dylan Kearney and Eddie Lee - who’ve all moved on for a variety of reasons.

Some of those have been replaced, with the Heathens bringing in Burnham’s top goal scorer last season Jabir Laraba, Harlem Hale and Connor Young.

However, Harlem and Connor are both recovering from short-term injuries with the season set to kick off at home to the London Lions this Saturday (August 9).

On this summer’s upheaval, Ayres said: “For the first time in the four years I’ve been there, it does feel like that (a rebuild summer). It was probably always going to happen.

“We’ve moved on a few boys so that they can play regular football and then at the top end, we’ve been slightly disappointed to lose all five centre forwards. It’s a challenge. Especially to lose Michael (Harding) and Wiktor (Makowski) who brought a lot of goals.

“It’s difficult to try and replace those goals in today’s climate with the amount of money going around. We feel we’ve kept the core defensively and in midfield. We’re good in that respect. We’ve brought in some centre forwards but unfortunately, two of them are injured at the minute which doesn’t help. We’re probably one or two short but hopefully that will work itself out in the next couple of weeks.

“We don’t want to be playing catch up early on and we want to get off to a good start. We have got three really good strikers, but two of them are injured at the minute. We may get someone in for a few weeks to help us out, but if we must go in with what we’ve got, we’re confident in the group. We have an abundance of talented midfield players, and they’ll help with the goals.”

Flackwell are somewhat constrained by their finances and have spent money off the field on improving Wilks Park, opening a new tea bar and putting up new railings and sponsorship boards.

Despite this they’ve managed to attract Laraba from Burnham, Hale from Egham Town and Young, who’s been recovering after suffering an ACL injury at Ashford Town (Mddx). However, Ayres is confident all of them are capable of regularly finding the net at this level.

“We’ve lost Wiktor Makowski, Michael Harding, Jethro Odumosu – he’s gone to Met Police,” he said.

“Eddie Lee has left because of work commitments and Dylan Kearney has gone to Northwood, which was also a travel thing.

“We are limited financially, which I understand, and we’ve had to do some work on the ground. We’ve had a new tea bar put in which will help with income, new railings and sponsorship boards. Things have happened off the pitch.

“We’ve signed Jabir Laraba from Burnham, Jabz we call him. He was Burnham’s centre forward last year and he’s always scored goals. He’s scored high 20s, 30 goals a season and he’s a great lad.

“We’ve also signed Harlem Hale, who won the league last year with Egham. Again, he got high 20s and he’s a goal scorer. He’s got a knee injury and is a couple of weeks away. We’ve also signed Connor Young and he’s a little older than Harlem. He’s not far away. He had an ACL while he was at Ashford, but he’s always been a goal scorer as well when he’s played. We’ve brought in goal scorers, but we haven’t been able to get them out on the pitch.

“We’ve done well to keep the core of our midfield together because they had a lot of offers. They’ve put their trust in us to go one more year and see what we can do. But it won’t be easy. We work with the players, coach them and try to improve them. The ones who grasp that get the opportunity to go and play at a higher level like Wiktor and Michael have.”