Interviewing Buckland Athletic manager Matt Cusack

Jamie Rooke interviews Buckland Athletic 1st XI manager Matt Cusack ahead of the new Western League season.

Transcript

00:00Joined here with Matt Cusack, Brooklyn Athletic first team manager after their final pre-season

00:06game. Matt, how was tonight and how has pre-season been as a whole?

00:09Yeah, tonight was a useful exercise. We're up against a Step 3 team. We've had a tough

00:14pre-season and we've just reminded the lads of that. In our last three games we've had

00:18a Step 3 team in Parkway tonight, a Step 4 team in Mousel on Saturday and then the one

00:22before that was a Step 2 team in Torquay United. So we've had a really tough pre-season. We've

00:29implemented some ideas on the training grounds and we've looked to execute them in the games.

00:35Some of them worked, some of them didn't. So that's always the case. So it's up to us

00:39to now go and refine our final game plan ahead of Nuki on Saturday. But yeah, I feel like

00:45we're ready. Unfortunately, we've lost Sammy State tonight, which looks like a bit of a

00:50nasty knee injury. So we're going to have to assess that one. But other than that, we've

00:55got a fully fit squad ready to attack the season.

00:58You mentioned there obviously an injury there that obviously is an ideal. Do you go into

01:02these sort of games hoping for a general physicality, even though it's pre-season or...?

01:06Yeah, I mean, every manager will tell you that you're hoping for a clean bill of health

01:11with all your players. You don't want to be losing people in the pre-season. We've had to

01:13take people off as a precaution tonight just because of the volume of minutes played in recent

01:18games. But also some that have had tight hamstrings tonight, so they've come off as precautions

01:24as well. So yeah, you want to attack the season with a full squad where possible. You acknowledge

01:29that people will get injuries. It's part and parcel of the game. That can happen at any point

01:34in the season, but especially when the pitches are hard. But with Sammy's one, it was really

01:37innocuous for you. I just had a chat with him. He just said that he felt it when he was turned

01:40and just heard something pop. So we'll have to assess that one. But I think he could be struggling

01:45for Saturday if I'm looking at that situation right now. But yeah, the rest of the boys are

01:51fit and raring to go. And then you mentioned there Saturday, your first league game in charge of the

01:55club. How excited are you? Can't wait to get going, I'm sure. Yeah, really exciting. I'm hoping it's

02:01going to go better than the last one where I lost 4-0 on the opening day. But yeah, so yeah,

02:07really exciting. Obviously, Nuki are newly promoted. They'll come here. I always feel like it doesn't

02:10matter who you play first game of the season. It's always a leveler anyway, because everybody's really up for it

02:13because it's the first game. So, you know, like I say, we've prepared well. We've had a really tough,

02:20sort of gruelling pre-season, particularly with the calibre of opposition that we've picked.

02:25And hopefully that will bear its fruits when we attack our Step 5 level.