Attentions turn to FA Cup trip to Rugby
Having started with a couple of league defeats up at Bootle last weekend and then at home to Hednesford on Tuesday, perhaps it’s no bad thing that we have the welcome distraction of the FA Cup this weekend.
After battling passed Romulus in the extra preliminary round when Joe Thompson’s injury time winner did the job for us, we now take a trip south to Warwickshire to take on Rugby Town, who play at the same level of football as us but in the Northern Premier League Midland division.
Our opponents have had a mixed start to the season, kicking off with a remarkable 5-5 draw in the extra preliminary round of the FA Cup against Malvern Town and following that up with a late winner in the replay, while their league start has seen them win one and then lose their most recent game on Tuesday.
They have goals in the team, as that ten-goal thriller indicates, and one of their main threats will be David Kolodynski who has four in as many games so far this season.
For us, we’ll have to wait and see how Josh Jordan is after limping off on Tuesday night, but we have good defensive cover in the team, so there are definitely options. Joe Berks remains a doubt after picking up an injury in training last Thursday but Max Chimenes returns to the squad after missing Tuesday’s defeat against Hednesford.
Last season, we were 2-0 up at Congleton in a second qualifying round replay before losing 3-2 so we are keen to get a bit of a run going again.
If Saturday’s game with Rugby finishes all square then the replay will be at our place on Tuesday night with a 7.45pm kick off, meaning that the scheduled league match away to Runcorn would need to be rearranged. Similarly, if Runcorn’s cup tie with Stalybridge Celtic finishes level, then that replay would take precedence over the league fixture.
But let’s see what happens on Saturday first!