Henry challenged to shake “impact player” moniker

CITY’S joint bosses James Gray and Graham Golds have challenged Chris Henry to shake the label of impact player and cement a place in the starting line up.

The dangerous winger has scored six goals in the current campaign with three of those coming in the last two games against Redditch and Bideford.

Speaking after the Bideford game, Gray was full of praise for the pacey winger.

“Chris is a dangerous player,” he said.

“He’s quick and has a great eye for goal although he can be a bit inconsistent. We have seen him get into great positions and blaze his shots high and wide in the past.”

Gray said he and Golds sat Henry down before Saturday’s game and challenged him to show his full potential.

“Chris doesn’t want to be an impact player or a super sub or anything like that.

“He wants to be starting so we told him that he needs to produce the same performances from the start that he does coming off the bench.”

Henry took note and against Bideford he was “fantastic,” according to Gray. He was instrumental in three of City’s four goals, winning the penalty for the second and punishing Bideford’s defence with his pace to score the third and fourth.

Even with the upturn in Henry’s performances, Gray knows it will take more than that to get into the playoffs.

And with two thirds of the season in the books City are seventh in the Evo-Stik Southern Premier Division, four points off the playoffs and seemingly well placed for a late run at the top five.

“If we are going to get there it will be because of the whole squad,” he explained.

“It won’t be any one player that gets us to the playoffs. We need everyone to play their part.”

That attitude stretches to the managers, who will have to be “positive” when preparing for games.

“We need to get three points from games, starting with Weymouth on Saturday,” said Gray.

“If we are going to get into the playoffs we need wins – that starts with a positive team selection. We can’t think that a draw away from home is a good result, we need to win all of our games.”