FOLLAND Sports boss Danny Bowers doesn’t care what the weather holds in store for 2015.

Because if dealing with rain, sleet, frost or snow is the barometer of the Planemakers’ title chances, then he has every reason for optimism. When Follands faltered 2-1 at Verwood Town on January 11 last year, it could have signalled a winter of discontent.

Instead it spurred the Planemakers on for an unbelievable run of results that brought 16 wins and a draw from their next 17 league games, rocketing them up to a best-ever third-placed finish in the Sydenhams Premier Division.

Bowers, who leads his troops to title rivals Winchester City on Saturday, said: “We’re starting to get players back now and I’ve always said that we’re strong after Christmas.

“The thing about us is that we haven’t got fair-weather players, we’ve got workers. So when the bad weather comes in, I know we’ve got a team that grind out results.

“You can chuck a blanket over the top six in this league, but if we can emulate what we did last season we’re in with a chance.

“January and February are going to be big months, especially for us because we’ve got to play Winchester, Petersfield and Moneyfields (twice).

“But by the middle of January, (striker) Ryan Long will be free of midweek work commitments and that will be like signing a new centre forward. We’re a different side when Ryan’s around, he’s such a big player for us. He’s got the workrate of ten players and, when he’s on the field, everyone else seems to give a bit more.”

Winchester and Follands are locked on 45 points, eight adrift of leaders Moneysfields with one and two games in hand respectively.

And while Bowers wouldn’t swap the industrious Long for the world, he acknowledges that, in Warren Bentley and Zach Glasspool, Winchester possess “the best frontline partnership in the league.”

“The chemistry is so good between them,” he said. “It doesn’t matter what Winchester are like at the back when they’ve got two players like that up front.

“For me, Zach is their unsung hero. Everyone talks about Warren, but Zach’s such a clever footballer that he makes Warren’s job that bit easier.

“Last Saturday (a 5-2 win over Totton & Eling) we had no recognised centre-halves, but Matt Burt’s back from suspension tomorrow and Calum Brockway and James Roden are back too, so we’ve got a good squad to choose from.”

As an ex-Follands man, Winchester boss Paul Masters is pleased to see his old club thriving.

“They’re a good club full of local players and they’ve been steady for the last four or five years,” he said. “Danny’s got them well drilled and organised and, on their day, they’ll beat anyone. They’ll be right up there come the end of the season.”

Bentley returned from ankle trouble to score against his old club Alresford last Saturday, but he is not yet fully fit.

“He’s still struggling a bit but, at the end of the day, he’s got goals in him,” said Masters. “I think he felt the ankle a bit. It’s nothing serious, but it’s one of those injuries that niggles away when you’re kicking the ball and twisting and turning.

“But this league needs players like Warren playing and, luckily for us, he’s one of those people who wants to be playing all the time.”