Chris Tomkinson shares his thoughts ahead of this weekends fixture

As Central look to bounce back from last weekend’s narrow defeat, we spoke to manager Chris Tomkinson to garner his thoughts ahead of Bolton United’s trip to the Seashells.

“Obviously we’re disappointed with the result from last week but that’s football. We didn’t show up defensively and unfortunately if you concede four goals away from home in any league nine times out of ten you come away with nothing.”

Despite that 4-3 defeat, Tomkinson is upbeat about the overall start Central have made to life in Division One.

“We’ve still made a fantastic start to the season and if you’d told me at the start of the season we’d be sat top of the table with nine points four games in we would’ve all taken that so it’s important not to get too carried away after one defeat.”

Looking ahead to this weekends top of the table clash with second placed Bolton United, Chris is confident that despite a few absentees, Central can give a better account of themselves on home turf.

“There isn’t a single easy away game in this division so it’s imperative we perform well at home and turn the Seashells into a fortress. We’ll be missing a few players through injuries and suspensions so we’ll have to dig deep but we’re lucky with the strength of our squad and as long as we remain disciplined I’m sure we won’t be too far off the pace.”

A win for Central will see them move six points ahead of the Visitors, and despite it being so early on in the season, Tomkinson is well aware of how important that may be come the end of the season.

“When you get promoted people always judge you on how well you do compared to the other promoted sides. We’ve both made a flying start to life in this league and as we all know every single point matters. We definitely have the quality on paper to go toe to toe with anyone in this league, now we need to put last week out of our minds and show it on the pitch.”

Although confident in his own sides ability, Tomkinson is well aware of the dangers last seasons Division Two champions United can pose, and fully expects another exciting game.

“It just goes to show the quality of the league we were in last season that the top two this year are both newly promoted sides. Bolton United are a strong side, we know that from two narrow defeats last season, so now its down to us to show them that we’ve made the step up as well and fight them all over the park to get the win.”

Kick off at the Seashells Trust Academy is at 15:00.