Solihull boss Neal Ardley reveals who he thinks are the best team in National League

Solihull Moors boss Neal Ardley reveals who he thinks are the best team in National League as the season nears the halfway point already.

His side played host to Chesterfield and had no complaints at the score come full time with the Spireites coming away 2-0 winners with the home side’s Kyle Storer being handed a red card.

Captain Storer was sent off on the 23rd minute for a lunge on Luke Croll, and the opposition ran with the game from that moment on producing two goals prior to half time thanks to Alex Whittle and Kabongo Tshimanga.

“We lost the game in the 15-minute spell from the sending off though to half time,” Ardley said post-match.

“When you have a man sent off you compose yourself, you make it very difficult for the opposition, you give yourself a chance to get in at half-time and maybe give yourself a chance in the second half.

“You are playing top of the league, the best team at the moment without a doubt, and their goals did not come from us being down to 10 men, their goals came from overloads and from poor defending. That is the game more or less over there.”

Neal Ardley assesses this afternoon’s action. 💬

— Solihull Moors FC (@SolihullMoors) November 20, 2021

“In the second-half, if we had got it all wrong, it could have ended up four or five and that would not have done anyone any good,” Ardley continued reflecting back on the game. “We tried to stay in the game and do the best we could. We still kept two centre-forwards to try and nick a goal.

“But the second-half was just non-existent, they just professionally saw the game out and we did not have enough.

“We had two or three chances at one-nil down to equalise before half-time but when you go to 10-men you need to compose yourself and the defending was not good enough.

“We have only got ourselves to blame.”

Ardley also spoke on the referee Garreth Rhodes’s decision to give marching orders to Storer, saying he could see why he made that decision.

He said: “I have not seen it back and my initial reaction was that it could have been off. As soon as I saw it I thought ‘he could be off for that.’ It did look like his follow-through was quite high.”

Chesterfield manager James Rowe said on his side’s win: “I’m really pleased with Saturday [against Solihull], I think we did well. It’s never a given when it’s 11v10, you have to be careful. I’m so pleased with the clean sheet too.

[On Williams] “I thought he was great, there’s more to come from him in the coming years. Alex [Whittle] is doing brilliantly, there’s great competition there now for that spot between him and Calvin [Miller].

[On the support at Solihull] “They were a credit to the club, they supported us all the way through. It was incredible support, absolutely magnificent.

“We’re only just past a third of the way through the season, we need to remember that. However, I’ve got every confidence that we can go on and continue this form.

With 16 goals in 16 league games, has there been a better signing this season across the divisions than Kabby Tshimanga at Chesterfield? I’m not sure there has.

So with such an impressive record, is #Spireites boss James Rowe braced for bids in January?@footballheaven pic.twitter.com/A0GdT7WKJS

— Adam Oxley (@adam3oxley) November 22, 2021

[On Tshimanga speculation] “He’s really happy here, I’m not bracing myself for January, no. He’s going to have a good future, but his future is here at Chesterfield. We have players that are market value now and the board deserve massive credit for that.

“We’re all committed to each other here, everyone has the same goal this year and we all want to achieve the same thing. All the way from the Kitman to the chef to the players, we want to achieve together as a group.”

Twitter users reacted as Solihull boss Neal Ardley reveals who he thinks are the best team in National League…

@DextersDesciple: At least he didn’t try to make excuses.

@Richard90640750: Wat a nice chap for telling the truth take me hat off to him guys

@spireite14: No doubt our county friends will say he is still bitter after they sacked him

@paulbrowett35: Honest evaluation of the game. Top man

@Jonbennett8Jon: Refreshing to see a defeated opposition manager tell it how it was.

@Joeyvand: Beaten by the best team in the league 😁😁😁😁 give him credit for that one 🏆🏆🏆🏆

@alex_beard: Having been a Moors fan for the best part of a decade, I can safely say this team lacks both personality and conviction. It needs inspiration and I don’t know where it’s going to come from, but defo not the manager. And another thing, we should have fought tooth and nail to get Mark Yates. He knows the club, and has what it takes to take us up. Time to wake up to the fact ‘nice’ football gets you nowhere in this league. Look back at the Liam McDonald days.

@72jamesk: I agree Alex big mistake trying to bring in a high profile manager when we already had someone at the helm doing well. I fear we have a Jimmy Shan mark 2, tactics & selection not working but too stubborn to change.

@RobCFC88: Honest yeah, it’s how the game went, cheers for the 3 points though ha