Ahead of Saturday’s home league match versus Bury Town (3:00 KO), manager Tim Flowers has looked at the task in hand and spoken about a departed player. He starts with reflections on last weekend’s win versus Nuneaton…
We come into this weekend’s game off the back of our FA Cup win over Nuneaton Town. I felt, when the draw was made, that it was never going to be an easy game, given the added ingredient of a few of our ex-lads being over there and the fact they’ve recruited quite heavily in the summer following some good momentum over the last couple of years where they’ve gained promotions to get up to Step Four.
It was never going to be anything other than a tough game – we weren’t at our best but, having said that, we could have scored four inside the first 20 minutes – we missed those chances and that could have bitten us on the backside to be honest. They had one or two openings where I thought we were a little sloppy but – in the end – I thought we deserved to win the game, there’s no doubt about that.
Since then, we’ve managed to get another home tie out of the hat, against Leek Town. Having spoken to the manager at Sporting Khalsa, it’s certainly going to be anything but easy – he said they were absolutely outstanding against them in the previous round. A few of our Hednesford lads know them from the Northern Premier last year and a couple of them – Ollie Harrison and Dan Trickett-Smith – used to play for them, so it’ll be a really tough game. I’ll spend some hours next week finding out more about them.
We’ve now got what is an extremely tough game against a team that has won every game they’ve played and – looking at Bury’s squad – I’d say 90% of them are lads from last season that have re-signed, with a few additions – notably Tommy Smith at centre back – who obviously has a terrific CV having played at the World Cup and the Olympics. They’re absolutely flying at the minute and must be full of confidence – I’ve seen some footage of them and unless we’re on our A game, it’s going to be a tough afternoon – we’ve got to go out and deliver a performance.
We’re in good form as well – we’ve only lost one of our games so far and we’re also in a good place – I’d have snatched your hand off for this start!
This is probably the game of the day in our league when you look at it, with the league positions, and hopefully it’ll be a good one for the supporters to come and enjoy.
In terms of the squad, Adam Jasper has gone back to Tamworth – he had the misfortune of being clumped on the side of the head playing a friendly at Tamworth. He had to go through the concussion protocol and – towards the end of that – he felt dizzy and nauseous – and had to go through that protocol again.
He has gone back for the time being and we’ll review that when he’s fit and well – and we thank him for his efforts. He did well for us coming off the bench, showing a lot of energy, and he really wanted to be here – so it’s something we’ll re-evaluate as he starts to feel better.
Injury-wise, we’re not too bad. Jake Jervis is out for a few weeks but, other than that, I don’t think we’re too bad. There’s one or two coming back into the squad, which is good news.
I hope everybody enjoys the game tomorrow!
