Talent pool spurs promotion hopes

Sheffield's new manager Ian Whitehorne insists his side is good enough to target a play-off spot come May after hailing his talented new squad, writes Andy Dixon.

Whitehorne, confirmed this week as the permanent successor to the departed Curtis Woodhouse, has made a flurry of signings since taking over at Dronfield.

The Evo-Stik NPL First Division South manager reckons he now has some the best footballing talent in the division and believes his team can quickly start climbing the table in 2013.

Sheffield got off to the best possible start on New Year's Day with a 4-1 away win at Kidsgrove Athletic and Whitehorne said: "I have never been a big fan of the long ball game, don't get me wrong with the right personnel it can be very effective and teams at this level have used it to their advantage, but we don't have those kind of players so it was just a case of using the strengths we have at our disposal.

"We have some of the best footballing talent in this league so it makes sense to play to their strengths. If you look at the league table of course if we won our games in hand we would be back in the [play-off] pack and we aren't even half way through the season yet so there is no reason why we couldn't get back in there."

Since taking over, Whitehorne has brought defender Gareth Clayton back to Dronfield and has also added young midfield duo Richard Stirrup and Jack Waddle.

Waddle, the son of former England international and Sheffield Wednesday star Chris, comes on loan from Chesterfield where he has been a part of the successful youth set-up over the past couple of seasons. He has just signed a year long contract with the Derbyshire side and Whitehorne is looking forward to seeing the highly-rated wide midfielder, whose passing and set play delivery are the strengths in his game, in action.

The manager said: "I watched him play last week, and was suitably impressed. He has quite a bit about him, and has a great pedigree, which should suit the style of play at the moment.

"He’s no stranger to several of our squad either, and it will be good for him to have familiar faces in the dressing room like Ellis Wall and Shaq McKenzie, both of whom were in the same youth set up at Chesterfield."

Whitehorne is equally as excited with his two other signings. Clayton, originally joined from Northern Counties East League table-toppers Scarborough Athletic back at the end of October, has already impressed in the centre of defence in despite injury hampering his chances.

Stirrup joins from rivals Belper Town and is a player Sheffield's new manager believes can bring drive and goal-scoring potential to the middle of the park. He joined Belper last summer from Stocksbridge, after being released from the Sheffield Wednesday Academy in 2009.

Despite his confidence after the arrival of the new trio, Whitehorne is still aiming to bring new faces to the club and sounded a cautionary note ahead of the weekend's action.

He added: "Before the last game we were four points off the bottom three, so there's a lot of hard work to do. We have a very small squad so we are working hard to keep the players we have at the club, while trying to get some new faces in.

"Hopefully we will have a couple in place in time for Saturday’s game. As for my immediate target, it is to get a team together that can get three points at Mickleover on Saturday, I'm not looking any further than that."