Frustration for Wales after inconsistent season

May 31 2012 By Yann Tear

Steve Wales

STEVE Wales admits he feels deflated by a personal dip in form last season, saying he did not find the campaign anywhere near as enjoyable as previous ones.

But the Chesham United midfielder has vowed to fight hard to recapture the qualities that made him boss Andy Leese’s primary creative driving force at the Meadow in successive campaigns.

“It was a disappointing season for me personally,” Wales told the Examiner. “I didn’t really hit the levels I reached in previous seasons on the whole, and it’s frustrated the life out of me.

“It’s impossible to put my finger on the exact reason for it, but I suppose that’s what football’s like, whatever level you play at. Sometimes there’s no rational reason why players stop performing well, it just seems to happen.

“Last season, I’d have games where I’d get a couple of goals and play well, but it would come and go. It was the consistency that was missing and I need to get that back.

“I’ll be looking to put it right next season. I’ll be working doubly hard in pre-season training to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

Whatever may have caused Wales to go off the boil, he says his age and fitness are not factors in him often being overshadowed by emerging player of the year James Potton.

“My fitness levels are OK and at 29 I still feel I’ve plenty to give,” Wales said.

“It’s been great we had others who were in such great form last year at least, players like Potton and Simon Thomas, who got 25 goals for us last year. Now I want to get back to that kind of level.

“Things can change so quickly and it happens to the best of them, even internationals. When it happens to those guys at the highest level, then you take re-assurance that you’re not alone.”

Wales is convinced he will recover the spring in his step when August comes around and says we should expect another serious tilt at the Southern League summit from United.

“Andy [Leese] and Jon [Meakes, the assistant] can do whatever they want with the squad, but I feel it probably just needs fine-tuning to turn us from promotion to title contenders,” Wales said.

“We’ve seen the level reached by the teams that won it in previous years like Salisbury and Truro and we know the standard we have to aim for. I think we won't be far off it.”