Surprise package Trafford up next for rejuvenated Castle
One swallow doesn’t make a summer and all that but there’s no doubt that there’s a bit more of a spring in the step around the place after the dual boost of the signing of Tim Grice and then the man himself stepping up to score on his full debut on Monday night at Widnes against City of Liverpool.
It was only one goal, but it has helped to shift the dial on what had been a tough few days, which had seen us pick up just two points and score one goal in three games against Hanley, Witton Albion and league leaders Vauxhall Motors.
That’s forgotten now and things change so quickly in football of course, as our next opponents Trafford will also testify. Having set the pace in the early weeks of the season, when they won six of their first seven league games to top the tree, they slumped to three successive defeats conceding eleven goals in the process earlier in October. But they’ve bounced back since then with a point at City of Liverpool and a fine 3-1 win over Wythenshawe Town last Saturday and remain on the fringes of the play-offs.
Floodlight problems have stalled their momentum slightly, as they had to postpone their midweek game with Chasetown, which is also the reason why our game with them tomorrow kicks off at 1.30pm.
But floodlight issues or not, we can expect a tough game with the Mancunians. We’ve only lost one of our last eight games against Trafford, but that was last time out in February when despite Jake Avery giving us the lead, we ended up losing 2-1.
In terms of where we are with our resources currently, having been in a position quite recently where we were struggling to fill the bench – albeit with last minute injuries and unavailability playing their part – the garden is suddenly a lot rosier. With Jake Avery injured, namesake Twyford stepped in to play in a forward role with Gricey on Monday and with Tom Jones and Ethan Morgan to throw into the striker equation, the options up top look bright.
Carlos had a strong game in midfield on Monday and is improving all the time and it will be interesting to see how Bakes approaches the conundrum of Stubbsy being fit again and how that then impacts on Tommy, who in turn has been doing such a sterling job at centre half alongside Tom Thorley.
Decisions, decisions.
These are good problems to have of course and there is no doubt that we need to have a fit squad to continue progressing up the table. And with four of our next five games at home after the Trafford game tomorrow, we have a great opportunity to do just that.
Come on Castle!