Double joy has Redhead elated (From Redditch Advertiser)

Double joy has Redhead elated

8:00am Thursday 18th October 2012 in Sport

MANAGER Simon Redhead was overjoyed as resurgent Redditch United banished the stormclouds with two tremendous back-to-back wins.

The Reds travelled to St Neots in midweek having slumped to second from bottom slot in the Southern League Premier but promptly confounded the formbook with a 2-1 success thanks to goals for Joel Grandison and Connor Deards.

That was followed by a similar margin 2-1 triumph over Totton which has taken Reds up to 13th place.

Saturday’s victory was made even sweeter as it was achieved after having to play for over 50 minutes with 10 men when Alex Price was sent off.

Redhead said: “What a difference a week can make in football!

“Last week, Redditch was a dreadful place to be. Now there’s blue sky on the horizon.

“I wanted to change the culture at the club. I thought the players weren’t being robust enough. We were showing too much of a soft underbelly.

“I’ve never doubted we had the skill to do well at this level, but we just weren’t doing what it takes to win games.”

Meanwhile, Redhead has praised new signing Mark Hands performance at St Neots.

He said: “I expect Mark to be a very big part of this club going forward. He’s that local to Redditch, he could walk to the ground.”

However, Reds ranks look set to be strengthened even further following the recovery of central defender Alex Hickman, who was expected to feature this week in the Red Insure Cup contest with Stourbridge.

But striker Lyndon Dovey is likely to be sidelined for at least month with two broken toes sustained at St Neots, Redhead is eager to reinforce.

He tried to bring in Nuneaton Borough marksman Kyle Perry, but although terms were agreed, Perry opted to join Blue Square Bet Premier side Hereford United on loan.

Redhead is also running the rule over former Coventry City and Tamworth frontrunner Avun Jephcott, who has already trained with Reds.

Jephcott has been turning out for Midland Alliance side Tividale of late but was expected to feature for Reds at Stourbridge.

The Valley boss added: “We’re just having a look at each other at the moment.”