News

It's the Moatmen's first sticky patch of the season and one manager Gary Norton is looking to get through as soon as possible. "We always said our blip would come at some stage and its been interesting to see the reactions of various people after our recent run of results. From our perspective we need to try and get back to winning ways in the league as soon as possible and being the hard side to beat we have been for most of the season. It will be a tough one against Spalding who have been beaten just once in their last 8 games. They will also be keen to repay us for the Trophy defeat earlier in the season."

Rovers will be without fullback Gary White who picked up an ankle knock in the New Years day draw with Shepshed. Norton said: "Gary picked the knock up during the Shepshed game although he can't remember how. It was sore after the game and although he's received treatment on the injury it hasn't responded as we had hoped. He trained last night but was only on the bike as he struggled to even run on it. Hopefully he will be fit for the Tamworth game next week."

Skipper Matt Smith returns to the side after missing the festive games through being in the States over Christmas however Andy Simpson is now Stateside and will miss tomorrow's game. Andy Marlowe may return to the squad after a recent illness and Norton may recall Shaun Gummer from his loan spell at Glapwell.

Loan signing James Fox has returned to Nuneaton Borough and tomorrow also marks the final games on loan for Alfreton duo David Holmes and Gavin Saxby. Norton said: "We brought David in to help us over a period where we were down to bare bones and after we secured his loan Chris Freestone became available. Had Chris been available earlier then I wouldn't have brought David in but that's sometimes how things work. With regard to Sax he's done a great job for us in the 13 games he's played. We will monitor the situation closely with regard to Dale's return from injury before deciding what we do next in that department."

On Belford, Norton revealed that he would not be playing to-morrow for the reserves in his comeback game. He said: "Dale has done a lot of training this week including a rigorous two and a half hour session with Tamworth yesterday. We don't want to risk things for the sake of it so we are not going to play him tomorrow. With regard to next weekend's game I would have liked him to have had a competitive game under his belt before considering him but we will see how things go during the next week."

Jamie Hood has received a four game suspension for his sending off last weekend against Shepshed Dynamo. He will miss the FA Trophy tie at Tamworth followed by league games against Colwyn Bay and Warrington as well as the Derbyshire Cup Semi Final against Glossop North End.