By Marc Thaler
Managing Sports Editor

Ben Bennett’s boys would’ve been wise to take advantage of a particular early season gift from the arenafootball2 schedule-makers.

The Wolves only left town once during the campaign’s first month. A team trip to Louisville, Ky., resulted in Manchester’s first win of 2006, a 39-34 decision against the Fire on April 14.

However, three April home games on the Brady-Sullivan turf translated into just one win inside the Big V. A season-opening setback to Green Bay and a discouraging 62-47 loss to the top-ranked Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Pioneers on Saturday, April 29, contributed to Manchester’s mediocre 2-2 af2 record.

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The club’s most recent loss was truly critical.

The Wolves had a chance to exit April with a commanding 3-1 mark and share of the division lead. Instead, they dropped to .500, the result of playing uninspired football, according to Bennett.

“Anybody who needs a wakeup call when you’re playing for first place, they need to be driving a cab,” the head coach said.

“It’s very frustrating because we’re professional athletes,” Wolves defensive back William Haith added of his team’s so-so performance through four games. “We’re supposed to come out here and do our jobs.”

The Wolves, it seems, passed on a colossal perk for claiming the ’05 East Division championship. They clearly weren’t forced to travel far for their first four paychecks.

Well, that’s about to change.

Manchester won’t put the Big V to much use this month. The Wolves will wear the home uniforms just once in the next four weeks when hosting a May 20 matchup with the Florida Firecats.

Yes, Bennett’s bunch is about to become quite familiar with the road. Without question, May is going to test Manchester’s mettle.

The Wolves will face big challenges outside the Queen City, including two squads – Memphis and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton – that started fast in ’06.

The defending af2 champion Xplorers are first in Manchester’s trilogy of tough road contests. The teams meet on May 6.

Through Week 5, Memphis owned a 4-1 record. The current kings of the league posted a lopsided 62-26 win against the visiting Macon Knights on April 29. The 36-point decision marked the seventh straight home win for Memphis dating back to last year.

Similarly, the Pioneers, 4-0 after five weeks, certainly won’t be pushovers on May 29 when these division rivals rumble for the second time this season.

Posting a win in Pennsylvania won’t happen if the Wolves head coach is forced to issue postgame comments similar to his statement last weekend.

“We played a very uninspired ballgame,” Bennett said. “We played like we were a very poorly coached team and that’s my fault.”

Sandwiched between Manchester’s May 6 and 29 games, the Wolves travel to Albany, N.Y., on May 13 before making their only home appearance of the month one week later.

Albany will look to even the score against the Wolves, 59-45 winners on April 22. The Firecats, league champs two years ago, should present a tough challenge as well.

Still, the Wolves head coach doesn’t buy the argument that a game’s location factors into the outcome. “It doesn’t matter where we play,” Bennett said. “It matters what type of attitude we bring to the field.”

Indeed, the Wolves’ intensity level in May will set the tone for the rest of the season.