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Frank sows seeds for future
Story courtesy of
An anxious few days face Gresley Rovers’ boss Frank Northwood as he waits to see if his latest squad-strengthening plans will bear fruit.
Frustrated by Wednesfield Social’s move to put full back Dave Beattie on contract, Northwood is now waiting to see if former Wolves defender can make himself a free agent again.Apparently the Black Country club only got Beattie to put pen to paper after Rovers had put in seven days notice of their intention to move for the player.
Even then there is some doubt as to whether Beattie knew he was signing.
Wednesfield were able to put a price on their prize asset; one which, it now seems, Gresley were not willing to meet.
Northwood said during the week: “Beattie wants to come to Gresley, but he must first get out of his contract. He’ll be letting me know on Wednesday.”
Another player Northwood would very much like at the Moat Ground is goalkeeper Alan Ryder.
Ryder, veteran of more than 70 Central League games with Stoke City, is a player Northwood has been trailing for some weeks, having heard his reputation as “a keeper who’s even better than Karl Austin.”
Anyone who can make that claim must be very good indeed, and of interest to a Gresley manager ever-anxious to improve his side.
And while one glimpse of Ryder in action, helping Rovers bridge a goalkeeping gap at Rushall on Tuesday night, was hardly enough to make a judgement, the big 29-year-old did nothing to suggest that he is not a goalkeeper of the highest class.
Ryder made everything look so easy as Rushall, behind to a 16th minute Jon Laws goal, did all they could to turn the tables in a wind assisted second half.
And when Ryder capped a solid debut with a breath taking save three minutes from time, the Rovers faithful were buzzing.
But Ryder has yet to decide whether or not he wants a future at the Moat Ground and, in any case, it would hardly be fair to start writing off Austin after such splendid service to the club.
Austin has lost some of his form this season, but it hasn’t been an easy time for him because of work commitments.
A pre-match tongue-lashing from Northwood before last Saturday’s home game with Lye, however, appeared to do the trick and Austin had a good game.
My guess is that he will respond to any challenge that comes his way to remain Gresley’s number one keeper for some time yet.
