New Steelmen boss Setchell is ready for his ‘baptism of fire’

The former Bedford Town boss was appointed as the Steelmen’s new manager on Saturday night following the shock departure of Lee Attenborough last week.

Setchell was on hand to watch Corby claim a 1-0 victory over Hinckley Leicester Road, which kept them in the hunt for the play-off places in the Northern Premier League Midlands.

His first game in the Steel Park dugout will be tomorrow (Wednesday) night when Corby host Peterborough Sports in the semi-finals of the NFA Hillier Senior Cup.

That will be followed by his first league game in charge will be on Saturday when the Steelmen head to take on a Cambridge City side who ended Spalding United’s unbeaten record with a 2-0 success last weekend.

And that is swiftly followed by a home clash with Spalding before matches at Coleshill Town and Harborough Town, two teams also in play-off contention, round off the month.

It looks a tough run in a transition period but, despite the vast majority of the Steelmen squad having been signed by previous boss Attenborough, Setchell insists he isn’t looking at making major changes too quickly.

“I have looked at the league table and I have looked at the fixtures and we have a lot of the higher end teams to play over the next month or so,” the new Steelmen boss said.

“It’s going to be a bit of a baptism of fire.

“But the players have been at the level all year and I will lean on the people who have been at the club this season.

“Lee obviously signed a lot, if not all, of the players who are here and they have had a relative bit of success. Hopefully we can keep it going.

“I obviously have to assess the players and they have to assess me and we have to go from there.

“But I certainly won’t be making wholesale changes straightaway.

“These boys have earned the right and, over the first four or five games, I will be assessing them like they will be assessing me.

“I have never had any problems in the transition period before and I don’t expect any problems now.”

Setchell, meanwhile, insists his main aim at Corby will be to “fulfil the potential of the club”.

The Steelmen had another attendance of over 500 last weekend as 510 watched them defeat Hinckley, courtesy of Jack Turner’s first goal for the club in the first half.

And Setchell felt that attendance alone showed the potential the club has.

“There were 510 people there on a miserable day,” he added.

“They were on the back of a defeat, the manager has left and you’ve still got 510 people there.

“That just tells you that the club has legs for the level.

“Hopefully, I can help fulfil the potential of the club.”