Bourne Pre-match News
Gresley Rovers under caretaker manager Gary Norton face 2nd placed Bourne Town with their confidence boosted by last weekend's hard-fought victory at Newark and Sherwood. The win was only Rovers' second away victory of the season, with the other being a 3-2 win against Belper United back on September 17th 2024, and followed 8 straight defeats under previous manager James Jepson.
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The win, coupled with Kimberley Miners Welfare's last-minute defeat to Lincoln United last weekend, meant that Rovers are now outside of the relegation zone by just a single point, however that could change again this weekend.more...
Rovers' task this weekend still seems a daunting challenge given Bourne beat top of the table Eastwood last weekend to close the gap at the summit to just one point with 5 games remaining, and they will want to capitalise on last week's win against a Rovers side 45 points behind them in the table.
In team news, forward Sam Lockley, who scored on his debut last weekend, will unfortunately miss out after limping off in the second half having turned his ankle. Norton is also without the services of Tarun Rohilla and Oscar Mclure for the next 3 games - both of whom were on the bench last week.
Norton had hoped that Kane Lee might make the trip, but following the striker's return to training in the week, it's been decided to give Lee another week of training before bringing him back into action for the final four games of the season. Defender Jack Bostock, who returned from injury and was a second-half substitute, experienced soreness in his knee in training this week and so might also not be risked.
On the positive side, Jenson Cooper has returned to the club following his decision to leave under the previous manager, and the club also welcome new signing Jude Ayetene who has signed on dual forms from Ingles this week. Midfielder Liam Kavanagh also returns to the squad to add some much-needed experience to the group; however, Jack Andrews will need at least another week before he might be able to rejoin the squad due to an ongoing foot injury. Goalkeeper Charlie Wood also returns to the club in another boost for the run-in.
Lockley aside, Norton is hoping not to have to make too many changes to the side that started last week, with other new signings Max Jemson and Mitch White set to continue after both impressing on their debuts last week, as did the returning Jacob Sturgess at right back.
On the trip to Bourne, Norton commented: "Last week's win was hard-fought and injected some much-needed confidence and belief into the squad, which given the run of results they had been on was practically non-existent. We know that was just one game, but if the lads apply the same level of focus and hard work as they did last week, then we have a chance of perhaps causing an upset.
Bourne, of course, are pushing for the title and will be looking to make easy work of a side that has won just once in 2025, and we know that there won't be many people outside of our dressing room giving us much of a chance, but from our perspective, we won't be taking any notice of that and will try to ensure the lads believe they can get something from the game." He added, "Last week's win will have given them a huge lift both individually and collectively, and they're going into tomorrow's game with nothing to lose."
Norton concluded "When we took over for the last 6 games of the season, trying to understand where the points might come from that could see us avoid relegation, being realistic, this game wasn't one of them, so we have nothing to lose but go there and give it our best shot, and if we get something then that would be amazing. Hopefully last week's win gave our long-suffering supporters some hope that we can avoid relegation. That said, games are running out fast, and so we need to try and get anything we can from every match we play in, and so we go again tomorrow. If we can play like we did last week, then we will at least give ourselves a chance"