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Story posted: Tuesday, 9th November 2004

Belper pre-match news
Gresley Rovers are in Unibond Division One action this weekend against Belper Town at Christchurch Meadow tomorrow (3pm).
Manager Gary Norton is looking to get back to winning ways in the league after the last outing ended up in a 2-1 reversal at Ossett in a game that saw Rovers loose their unbeaten away league record.

Said Norton: "Tomorrow's game is a local derby and will be a very difficult game for us. We need to get back to how we know we can play. Our last 2 or 3 performances haven't been so convincing and I've spoken at training this week about the need to up our work rate and attitude back to the level is was earlier in the season. One or two players seem to have gotten a little comfortable in the side as it's been quite settled so far this season. They know if that attitude continues and individual performance drop in standard then they will be replaced either by members of our existing squad or by bringing in fresh faces."

Andy Simpson and Shaun Gummer return to face the team they left in the summer to join the Moatmen and both are looking to put in decent performances in front of the Nailers faithful.

Norton commented: "Both Andy and Shaun are really up for Saturday's game as you would imagine. I'm sure that Belper supporters will welcome them back but that's probably as far as the niceties will go. Belper have had an up and down season so far but they have had a few cracking results along the way. The biggest one was the 8-2 spanking at Ossett, which made everyone sit up and take notice. They won 4 on the bounce recently and I was delighted for Gary Hayward as it looked liked they had turn things around. I've got a lot of time for Gary. We spoke a lot in the pre-season and he gave me a lot of tips about this league as opposed to the Southern league. That will go out of the window tomorrow for 90 minutes though. They have some great individual players and on their day are more than capable of matching anyone in this league so we will need to be somewhere near our best to take something from the game. I've set a target of seven points from our next three games so we need to make sure we at least don't lose tomorrow."

Gary White serves his one match ban for the sending off at Ossett whilst Jamie Hood starts a two-match ban as a result of his disrepute charge following his Mossley dismissal. "It's a pain," said Norton, "after these two games Jamie will have missed five games already this season and we are not even into December. He's also on four bookings so needs to tread very carefully. Jamie and discipline have always been a problem but its part of his game. If he can improve on the silly bookings and sending off then he will no doubt go on and play as high as the conference in my opinion. On the other hand, Whitey can consider himself unlucky to be out tomorrow. His sending off was a joke but we have to take it on the chin and move on. We sat down pre-season and spoke about the discipline side of his game and he's responded superbly. He's playing at the top of his game and looks to have matured in every aspect and no longer seems to get involved with officials and opposition players".
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