Good start for York vital - Smith

10 August 2011 22:22
A good start to the season is vital for York City if they are to earn promotion to the Football League, according to defender Chris Smith. Smith, 31, captained the side last year when they finished eighth in the Blue Square Bet Premier.He told BBC Radio York: "I think that's massively important for any team."You look at teams that have been up there the last four or five years - they've had good starts and hopefully we can take that into the game."Smith also said that finishing eighth last season had been very disappointing, adding: "We believed that with what we had in our dressing room we could get there."Obviously the position we were in, 18th or 19th, people wrote us off which I think helped us."When we were going on that good run we knew that we could get there. When it finally came to an end and [we realised that] we were out of reach it was so disappointing because we were actually two wins off."We had three or four quite big defeats which obviously knocked us back a bit. But we can only learn from that this season."The defender also said that new additions to the squad have improved the side and increased competition amongst the squad."The gaffer [Gary Mills] has brought in seven or eight young players that are eager to play," he continued, "I think we're gelling as well so we can only get better."There are teams that have spent big and got lots of players in and are favourites, which might be good for us."We're probably fifth or sixth favourites which will be good again because teams might underestimate us. But we know what we've got and I know there's a positive atmosphere around the club." Source: BBC Sport

Source: FOOTYMAD