Aldershot's Peter Vincenti discusses finding form, managerial stability and playing to impress.
As part of Sky Sports' League Two spotlight, Chris Burton catches up with Aldershot Town midfielder Peter Vincenti.
The 2012/13 campaign is about to enter the final straight, with promotion pushes and relegation battles now in full swing.
Here at
Sky Sports we continue to take you to the very heart of the Football League, with our Spotlight features intended to give you a greater insight into the clubs and players that keep us on the edge of our seats.
We are hoping to bring you the views and thoughts of a representative from each of the 72 teams over the course of the season, with those involved asked to give their take on the division they compete in, the club that pays their wages and those we should all be keeping an eye on.
Aldershot's Peter Vincenti is next in the hot-seat, with the Shots midfielder taking time out to discuss finding form, managerial stability and playing to impress with
Chris Burton.
You must be delighted aren't you with the way things have gone since Christmas, with your form having really picked up?
We've looked at the remaining games and set ourselves a target. With the recent form, we are confident going into the remaining games. Our season probably turned around on the Fleetwood game in the FA Cup on 1st December. We went up there and got a good win in the cup and seem to have carried that on. I don't know what the exact stats are, but I think we have lost only two games since then. We have really turned the corner and are looking forward to the remaining games now.
You have taken points off Barnet, Bristol Rovers, Accrington - that's vital isn't it?
They were big games for us. When you play teams that are scrapping around as well, it's vital to get points off them. It's an old cliché, but we just have to take each game as it comes and see how we do. We have got two games coming up where we are playing against people that are higher up the division, so there will be a slightly different mindset, but we are confident going into every game.
But next up is Plymouth on Saturday, which is another big game isn't it?
Plymouth are down there as well, but they seem to have been able to pick up a few points here and there. It's a home game for us and I'm sure there will be a good crowd on Saturday. I'm sure the Aldershot fans will get behind us, as they always do. It's exciting, it's a game to look forward to.
There is no room to relax is there for you boys, with only one point separating you from the bottom two?
We are disappointed with where we find ourselves at the minute. The lads are disappointed because there was a lot of optimism going into the season and it we just don't seem to have been able to get a good run of games together. But we are confident with how we have performed recently and are confident that we can pick up points in the remaining games and hopefully start climbing the table.
Can you put your finger on what has gone wrong this season?
To be honest, I can't. It's a question I have been asked before 'Can I put my finger on why we find ourselves where we are?' But I can't. It's frustrating because there was so much optimism coming into the season with how we finished last season, but for whatever reason it just hasn't quite happened for us. We have had a few run of games every now and again but we have never boiled over. I don't quite know what the reason behind it is. But since early December, whatever we have done seems to have put it right and hopefully we can pick up more points - starting on Saturday.
Stability off the field has helped hasn't it, with Dean Holdsworth having been given time to get things right?
I think that's important. You see a lot of clubs and they chop and change managers so often. The gaffer has done a great job in the two years that he has been there - especially the cup runs we have had under him, they have been fantastic. The dressing room is all still together and we are all in it together and feel that with the management that is in place at the minute and with the players we have, we can pull ourselves out of it and should be okay.
On a personal level, are you happy with how things have gone?
Personally, I just take each game as it comes and put 110 per cent into every game, and that's what I have been doing and what I will carry on doing. From a personal point of view, I would like to chip in with a few more goals between now and the end of the season.
And you are playing for a new contact as well aren't you? You tend to have to work year to year in League Two.
In the lower leagues you never get a massive contract like you see in the Premiership. All I can do is keep working hard, put the effort in in training and games and see what happens. I'll carry on doing that.
Looking at the division as a whole, who has impressed you this season?
Obviously you look at the teams that are top of the table at the minute, Gillingham and Port Vale are up there and have performed consistently. There is a reason why they are up there. Ourselves, we have shown when we have played in big games, especially in the cup run when we were unfortunate to lose in the last minute to Middlesbrough, that if we perform as well as we can then we are a match for anybody on our day. We just have to take confidence from the recent form and take it into the remaining games. If we do that, we will be fine.
And who at Aldershot deserves plenty of praise for their efforts this season?
Youngy (Jamie Young) has performed very well this season. He's been performing well consistently throughout the whole season. In the recent run of games, from early December, the defence has been very, very good. They seem to have struck up the right sort of partnerships and we are conceding far less goals, which is important because it gives us a chance to win games. Everyone, the whole squad, has chipped in throughout the course of the season. We know that we have been inconsistent, but everyone has chipped in and played their part. Now we are just looking to bring it all together.
Finally, are you confident that the club can steer of trouble - with it important to keep in mind how far the club has come in a short space of time?
It has. You almost forget about it. It has been more at the forefront this season because it's been the 20th anniversary of the reformation of the club. In those 20 years, it's come so far. It's important to keep the club in the Football League and I'm more than confident - so are the lads and the management - that we will be doing that. The remaining 17 games, we'll look to take each game as it comes and are confident that we will pull away from where we find ourselves and will hopefully start climbing the table.
