Rugby Town Bench Talk
Saturday 14 December 2002

A warm welcome to everyone connected with Rugby Town for this pre-Christmas fixture. Lets all hope that the weather has warmed up a bit from the mid-week chilly blasts. It was disappointing to see Rugby go out of the FA Vase last weekend but at the same time it is encouraging to see a team at our league level progress as far as they did. I am sure that they will be keen to get on with the business of trying to accumulate the points so as to gain promotion to the Midland Alliance.

Last weekend was a real kick in the teeth for us when we lost 3-1 at home to Southam. The less said about our performance the better but suffice to say that when I assessed the game later I could not think of one player who had a decent game and when everybody has that bad a day at the office the outcome is inevitable. Before the game, we spoke about having the right attitude before you go out on the pitch. Clearly, nobody was listening! Our commitment and attitude of late had been very good and it was a big letdown to undo some of the recovery work of recent weeks.

Injuries continue unabated! Darren Carmell was involved in a car crash during the week and is suffering from whiplash as well as some bumps and bruises. Paul Webb has a slight hamstring pull but was unavailable anyway and Dave Blake is away for the weekend. Player availability is unclear at the moment but I am sure that it will hold its usual trials and tribulations for me with the continuing injury crisis making life more than a little difficult.

Mike Mason has started training this week and with a little bit of luck he may be able to have some involvement next week which will be his first appearance of the season if he makes it. Mark Bellingham continues to make progress and it is possible that Dayle Speed may be involved this weekend following his three month lay off with an ankle injury. Darren Wilkinson continues to make slow progress with his ankle injury and is not likely to be back in the frame for another 2-3 weeks.

Nottinghamshire Police defeated Lincolnshire Police 5-0 in the British Police Cup and therefore are our third round opponents here at Tally Ho, a fixture which is likely to be played at the end of January 2003.

We hope that you enjoy the game today and look forward to seeing you down here next Saturday when we take on Highgate United.