Play-off king Meech aims to do it with City (From Worcester News)

Play-off king Meech aims to do it with City

10:00am Wednesday 31st October 2012 in Sport By Steve Carley - Midlands Sports Journalist of the Year 2013, @stevecarleyWN

ALEX Meechan is determined to add Worcester City to the list of clubs he has helped into the Blue Square Bet North play-offs.

The much-travelled forward, signed by the St George’s Lane outfit last week, has a track record of finishing in the top five of the division.

In recent campaigns, Meechan has fired Stalybridge Celtic and Droylsden into the end of season showdown, while he was part of the Telford United side that won promotion via the play-offs in 2011.

Despite only having been a City player for two matches, scoring on his debut at Boston and playing 67 minutes of Monday’s 2-1 defeat to Brackley, Meechan reckons he has seen enough to convince him he can achieve the same with Worcester.

But he knows there is still some fine-tuning to do if they want to be among that elite group come April.

“I wouldn’t come here just to rest on my laurels, I still think I’ve got something to offer and I know there are other lads not playing who have got things to give,” he said.

“I’ve been nothing but impressed so far with the lads and the style of play, the set up and the fans. I still think I’ve got a few good years left in me yet.

“In this league, I’ve made the play-offs so I know what it takes to get in them and we’re not far off but those little errors are going to cost us dearly if we don’t stamp them out.

“I thought overall we were probably the better side (on Monday) and decisions and concentration levels at certain times have cost us the game. It’s a bitter pill to swallow.

“I thought Brackley played a little bit like we did at Telford when we got promoted. We weren’t great possession-wise but were rigid and strong and teams knew they were in a game.”

Meechan certainly seems to have bought into the philosophy employed by Heeley and assistant Matt Gardiner and is delighted to be back in the thick of things.

He left Harrogate last week after scoring only four goals in 35 appearances and admitted he could have become a City player in the summer.

Meechan, who made a 20-minute cameo for the north Yorkshire outfit in their 2-2 draw at the Lane last month, explained: “I wasn’t really playing as a centre-forward at Harrogate and was getting a bit frustrated over time.

“Carl knew I was interested and we spoke at the end of last season but I decided to stay with Harrogate. It could have come about earlier.

“After 12 games I thought it was time to go before it got to half a season and I’ve hardly played where I want to play.

“Carl approached Harrogate to see if I was available to go and manager Simon Weaver was reluctant but in the end he saw it from my point of view.”