Andy White: New arrivals can bring promotion-winning mentality

Warrington Town defender Andy White believes his experience of playing at a higher level can help the club achieve its ultimate aim of promotion.

White, 29, was one of three Altrincham players to arrive at Cantilever Park over the summer, joining goalkeeper Tony Thompson and fellow defender Tom Hannigan, who netted his first goal for the club in midweek.

The experienced full-back made 16 appearances for the Robins last season and also spent time on loan at FC United of Manchester.

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With spells at Crewe Alexandra and Southport Town, among others, earlier in his career, White believes his higher-level experience, and that of some of his team-mates, will be beneficial to the squad as the season progresses.

“Hopefully myself and the players who have had similar experiences to me can be a real help,” he said. “I’ve played in non-league for nine years now, and it can only be a good thing for the young lads to try and learn from us. 

“Tom Hannigan, for example, is really good at reading a game, and someone like Evan Gumbs next to him, he can just go up another level because I think that Evan’s had a great pre-season.

“I’m just looking forward to seeing how the team does in the league.”

A major change in style during pre-season saw manager Mark Beesley hand more responsibility to defenders when playing out from the back. 

White, who has produced two stand-out performances for the club so far this season, is excited by the challenge of adapting to a new environment and adopting different playing styles, depending who the Yellows come up against and the surfaces they play on.

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“With every team that I’ve played for, we’ve always tried to play it out from the back and build from defence to try to control games. 

“During pre-season, the manager gave us the freedom to go out there and play, but obviously we are going to have to mix up our game when we go to certain places where the pitch isn’t conducive to football. 

“Overall, we’ve got the players and the skill to keep the ball. I’m hoping that when we do take the lead during games, we’re going to be controlling it and it won’t be a basketball game or an end-to-end game.”