News

Rovers, who have collected 7 points from their last 3 games since parting company with manager James Jepson, travel to face Sleaford Town this weekend (Saturday 3pm kick off). Sleaford sit 2 places but just two points above Rovers and have been drawn into the relegation battle alongside fellow strugglers Kimberley Miners Welfare.

Interim manager Gary Norton approaches another tough game with renewed confidence following last Saturday's impressive 5-1 win at home to Skegness. The victory was particularly significant given the team's previous five consecutive losses at the Moat Ground under Jepson and marked their first five-goal haul at home since March 2022.

"While last week's win was huge, our focus immediately turned to Sleaford Town this Saturday," Norton said. "Like us, they're scrapping for their lives, so it's going to be a difficult challenge to go there and get the win we need to inch us further towards safety. We would easily find ourselves back in the bottom 2 at 5 o clock on Saturday evening and so it’s vital we go there, give all we have and try to get some sort of positive result".

He added, "The lads have responded brilliantly since we took over for the final 6 games and we have given ourselves a fighting chance of staying up. We asked for total commitment, and with 3 games down and 3 to go, every player has delivered on that ask so far. They've shown great resilience, coming from behind in tow of our games to win twice, and in our other game, we pushed the second-placed side to the limit before conceding a gut-wrenching equaliser with almost the last kick of the match. We need to maintain this effort and commitment as a minimum for all of our remaining matches, but for now, we're focused solely on tomorrow's game."

Regarding squad news, Norton hopes to name the same squad as last weekend, despite some fitness concerns in training this week. "Most players attended training this week, but we had to manage several carrying knocks," Norton explained. "Mitch White is recovering from a dead leg, Jack Thatcher has been dealing with back stiffness, and Fin Barker is receiving treatment for an ongoing knee issue. However, we remain hopeful that all three will be available for selection."

Gresley's remaining fixtures present a challenging run-in to the season. After Saturday's crucial trip to Sleaford, they host title-chasing Eastwood Town in their final home game (Saturday 19th April), before concluding their campaign with what could end up being a huge local derby game at neighbours Ashby Ivanhoe on Bank Holiday Monday.