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Gresley Rovers seek revenge tomorrow when they entertain the team responsible for their biggest defeat of the season, Hinckley Athletic.
And manager Frank Northwood has urged his team: “Go for victory – a draw is no good to us.”Northwood knows that title rivals Atherstone and Oldbury are setting a cracking pace at the top of the Banks’s League – and he doesn’t want his side left behind.
Victory tomorrow and against Halesowen Harriers at the Moat Ground on Tuesday night, however, can put the Moatmen within striking distance – although they must do the job without the services of influential midfield player Guy Hall.
The burly midfielder, who joined Rovers a month ago from Burton Albion, is swapping soccer boots for skis for a fortnight’s holiday and will miss Rovers’ next three games – leaving Northwood with a difficult gap to fill in his side.
How the Rovers boss must wish he could turn to the services of club skipper Dave King, who has been out for five months since suffering a serious knee injury against Eastwood Hanley in an FA Vase tie at Gresley.
Sadly, King is unlikely to play again this season.
Says Northwood, “Dave had an operation to remove a piece of bone from under his cartilage and he’s now in the hands of the physiotherapist – but he’s not going to be doing much for us this season.”
Northwood could turn to back-in-favour defender Nick Sales to plug the gap tomorrow.
Sales, who received a sharp reprimand from the Rovers boss after missing training recently, can play in midfield but isn’t happy outside the back four.
Indeed, it was because Tamworth persisted in using him in the centre of the park that he moved on to Gresley.
But Sales will almost certainly start tomorrow’s game against his old club.