Pershore Town Bench Talk

Welcome to everyone from Pershore as we meet again in the league for the second time in five weeks. We will be endeavouring to reverse that early season 2-0 defeat as we seek to get our league form back on track.

Last Saturday saw us defeat Loughborough 1-0 in the Challenge Cup in a game of few chances with us once again having to make wholesale changes to the line-up following a bout of illness and further injuries. My phone was red hot on Saturday morning as I made desperate efforts to get replacements for the three players who cried off on the morning (all legitimate reasons I hasten to add).

Into the side at the last minute came Chris Martin and Chris Adams and both of them did well for us. In fact Chris Adams probably had his best game for us since joining the set-up. Wayne Healey made a welcome first appearance on the bench having been out for the last two months.

The first half was a pretty evenly contested affair with Darren Carmell making one excellent save at the feet of their striker whilst we missed a couple of good chances at the other end. We grabbed the lead early in the second period when Dave Blake got on the end of a threaded through ball from Darren Wilkinson and buried it exquisitely past their keeper. We were the better team thereafter and deservedly went through to the next round although Darren Carmell had to make one tremendous save off a deflected shot in the dying minutes. Interestingly we have been drawn away to Pershore Town or Dudley Sports in the next round.

At the time of writing this article I do not have a clue what our line-up will be for tonight's game. Neil Hornby and Darren Carmell both have injury worries and Dave Blake is struggling to get off work. I already know that Kevin Usher is unavailable through work and the same fate may also befall Alex Holden and Paul Webb although I do anticipate having Lyndon Price and Dave Harnett available for selection. Neither Lee Wharmby nor Ollie Latchford will have recovered from their hamstring injuries and Dayle Speed is several weeks away with his ankle knock.

The prognosis of the long-term injured players is pretty mixed as well. Mark Bellingham and Mark Langley are some distance away from pulling on a shirt again. Carl Hancox and Mike Mason may be back in the selection mixer within the next few weeks although Mike is not having the best of times of late. He was on his way up to Sheffield last Friday to see a back specialist when he got 'wiped up' in his brand new now written off car. Fortunately he did not pick up an injury from that. It appears that the specialist has identified the root of his problem so lets hope that will be the end of his injury problems. The picture on Ian Millward is less clear as he is still suffering some problems with his knee.

These are the times when the players have to pull together even more and results are often obtained through commitment and a willingness to work for each other.

Just to keep you up to date with things our opponents in the next round of the National Police Cup will be the winners of West Mercia versus Leicestershire. The game will be played on Wednesday 6th November at the home of one of those teams. The kick off time will vary according to the opponents (afternoon for West Mercia and 7pm for Leics).

Finally, I must give a special mention to Paul Shaw, Darren Carmell, Neill Hornby and Mickey Hart for their tremendous commitment and efforts on behalf of the club. They have been stalwarts here for many years and I can only hope for the benefit of the club that their example rubs off on some of the others.