Ronnie reflects on a winning start in the Bob Radcliffe Cup

We caught up with Ronnie after the game and this is what his had to say…

Question:
Ronnie, it's a 4-1 win for the town over Tandragee Rovers in the first round of the Bob Radcliffe Cup today. With goals, great play and smiles on faces, it could hardly be a better first game for your first game back as manager.

Ronnie:
Yes, I have to say, I'll take that obviously, there'll be harder games ahead, and we know that, and there'll be peaks and troughs. But, you know, we'll take that today. And I'm really, really pleased for the fans and the players. A few young lads came in, I'm not going to mention their names, but the lads came in, put a good shift in. And the boys who have travelled afar and were here and who are used, they've done very, very well.

Hopefully we can build on it, look for higher artists, but we have what we have. We don't have an opportunity to bring anybody else in at the moment. So we work with what we have. A lot of good kids, we'll be able to throw them in, see how they do. And we'll take them to the next level.

Question:
Plenty of highlights from today's game, including a double from Ahmad Ousman. A first senior goal in his first senior appearance from Matty Grimes. And just a great play throughout the game. Was there anything in particular that impressed you from today's performance?

Ronnie:
I know Matty came in and he worked tirelessly. He deserved his goal. He was up against Achie, Steven Acheson, who's well-known by town supporters. You know, a super centre-half who played as high as he wanted to play. You know, so that's a high accolade to say that. You know, when you come off the better against that at some stage again. You know, Ahmad, he's a young lad with a lot of raw talent. Hopefully we can give that a bit of structure and develop that as we go ahead. But pleased that he got his goal.

Question:
You've had three opportunities to observe the boys so far, two training sessions and our game today. What are your initial impressions of kind of where we are with the squad at the minute?

Ronnie:
Well, I still have to see a few of them, we have a friendly organised for Tuesday night. We'll take a look at it and A know a few of the kids. But there's a wee bit of ability here and there. It needs a structure, which we'll hopefully put in place on game day. Ask them to work very, very hard. First and foremost, that's the premise I always work on. You put the hard work in and then if there's talent, it'll come through. So hopefully, let's just say there'll be peaks and troughs, but hopefully at the end of it, we'll have more wins.

Question:
And just a word on this moment in your town career. Ronnie, you're back with the town again as head coach after several successful spells involved with the club and you were recently inducted into the club's Hall of Fame. Can you just speak to what it means to you to be manager again here and give us an idea of what you hope to achieve this time with the town?

Ronnie:
Stability, first and foremost. I mean, people have worked tirelessly off the park to sort the problems which are well documented. Now we have to try and replicate that on the pitch. If I can help, so be it. A lot of people around me who are working hard as well. From my point of view, it's always easy to come back to Banbridge. Banbridge is representative of the Banbridge community in general. So it's easy to come back through the door.

Hopefully on this occasion, I can help build for a stronger future on the pitch for everybody in the town. For the kids that are in the academy, to have something to look forward to, possibly

come through and play with their club. That's my aim, and that would be my hope.

Ards Rangers next. That's a hard one, but we'll take it as it comes.