Willcock doesn’t argue that his team’s form should have been better over the last month or so. But he insists the play-offs and promotion are by no means out of the question.
“The league has been starting to run away from us. We’ve had some indifferent results over the last ten games and we’ve been falling behind the two clubs above us — Northwich and Warrington,” he commented.
“If this was the North West Counties League the season might well be over but in the Evo-stik it’s different. We’ve got 17 games left to secure a play-off spot so there’s all to play for. We’ll be fighting for every one of the points on offer.
“It’s a shame we’re no longer in any of the cups because they help to keep momentum going. But at least we know exactly what we have to do.”
Warrington and Northwich both have extensive leads over the Hillmen. Even so, Willcock believes the gulf can be narrowed. He wonders how Vics will react to the loss of manager Jim Gannon to Stockport County, and what might happen if Glossop can win the two league matches between the clubs.
In the same way, however, he does not discount the clubs beneath, such as Witton Albion who the Hillmen face tomorrow.
“League position says we’re the favourites but Witton have had a change of manager recently and been on a good run. I think they’re going to climb the table pretty quickly. It’s the same with Lancaster who we play on January 30. It’s a very tough division,” he said.
“It’s up to us to get something from Witton and Lancaster so that we don’t let the two clubs above us get any further ahead. We can’t afford any more slip-ups.”
There are signs that the slip-ups may be ending. In their last two league matches Glossop have kept clean sheets. What they need to do now is regain their scoring touch. Even though they lost 2-1 to Belper in the Derbyshire Senior Cup, Willcock says they created lots of chances. The fact that they failed to take them was a huge disappointment.
He adds that one or two new faces in the run-in will help to freshen things up.
Willcock concluded: “I never thought we would challenge for the title. Financially, we can’t compete with a lot of clubs below us, let alone the two above. But I always felt we would compete and win more games than we lost.
“There’s a long way to go and a lot to play for. We’ve got to play all the teams around us and some of them twice. We need a strong end to the season and we’ll see what develops.”