09/02/2023
By Chris Gibbs
Sometimes this funny old game is about timing.
We were originally due to play Runcorn two months ago when our opponents were in a very different place. Well still north Cheshire but you know what I mean.
At that time, the Linnets were unbeaten at home in the league all season and threatening to challenge league leaders Macclesfield for the title.
Then inexplicably their season started to unravel. Prior to their 3-0 home win against Skelmersdale on Tuesday, they were on a horrendous seven match run without a win, which suddenly left them looking over their shoulders in the last play-off position when they had been as high as second.
Their midweek win though, may just have arrested that slide in the nick of time - a game that saw their prolific striker Jamie Rainford bag his 20th goal of the season.
Our performance at Northwich on Tuesday was not to the level that we had hoped for after our thrilling 3-2 win over Prescot Cables last weekend, and the reality is that we are lucky to be coming into the Runcorn game off a 2-0 defeat and not a much heavier scoreline.
At this stage of the season with the fixtures coming thick and fast, an opportunity to put things right is never far away.
Runcorn were the first team to beat us in the league this season, as we suffered a 2-0 home defeat in the reverse fixture in October and victories have been harder to come by since then.
The good news for us going into this game is that Callum Lovatt is available once again after serving a three-match suspension after his sending off at Widnes while Ethan Vale is pressing to make the squad again after getting an injury in the same game.
With the Macclesfield game now having moved from Valentine’s Day to 11 March this becomes our second of four successive away games – the onus is on us to start taking some points from this key run of games.