Today’s column is from Robins assistant boss Neil Sorvel…
We’re delighted with the great run that we have achieved… five wins on the bounce, 10 goals scored and only two conceded. You have to go back to before Christmas and the Kidderminster game for the last goal conceded in open play.
The games have followed a similar pattern in that we have generally been in control in the first half of the match, but it has been after the break where we have worn the opposition down and created more chances and scored more goals and that was definitely the case on Tuesday night against Blyth Spartans.
Watch highlights from the win over Blyth Spartans:
Shaun Densmore has been involved in a lot of goals that we have scored recently and he set up Jake Moult for the opening goal with a great piece of play.
We probably should have put the game to bed in the opening quarter of an hour of the second half, but it took a fantastic strike from Josh Hancock to double our lead… it’s a long time since I have seen anyone hit the ball with such power and movement. As we did against Curzon, we scored another goal very quickly and it was nice to see Tom Peers get on the end of an excellent cross from John Johnston.
Today we take on Guiseley who are also in very good form. Although they lost at home to Chester last Saturday, they did the double over Farsley Celtic and won at York over the Christmas and New Year games. Kaine Felix caused us a few problems with his pace in the game at Nethermoor, when he capitalised on an early mistake to open the scoring and that gave them something to hang on to for an hour, until we equalised through a penalty from Josh Hancock after Shaun Densmore was tripped in the box.
Lee Shaw is also a player that has done well against us when he was at Grantham and Chris Sang, who had a loan spell with us last year from Bury, scored important goals in the two games against Farsley Celtic.
I am sure that Marcus Bignot and Russell O’Neill will set their team up to contain us this afternoon and it’s likely to be a very tight game… all three of the games between the two sides since we got promoted from the Northern Premier League Premier Division and Guiseley were relegated from the National League, have ended in draws.
I was surprised that our appeal for Max Harrop’s sending off on New Year’s Day against Curzon Ashton wasn’t upheld. The video evidence clearly showed that Max’s challenge wasn’t dangerous and it’s disappointing that that he will now miss three games as he has done well since coming back into the starting line-up.
Sean Williams will be available today, having recovered from his foot injury sustained in the game against Southport and with James Jones returning from illness on Tuesday, we are going into today’s game with a strong squad, which is a real positive ahead of a very tough week ahead, as we travel to Spennymoor on Tuesday and Gateshead next Saturday.
Three points today would be a really positive start and take us into a play-off position for the first time this season. Guiseley have a similar opportunity, so it’s a very important game for both teams.
Top photo: Michael Ripley
