Toolstation/Hellenic White delighted by Clevedon’s great run of league form
CLEVEDON Town manager Alex White is confident his unrelenting team can maintain the impressive heights they have hit when beleaguered Buckland Athletic attend the Everyone Active Stadium tomorrow.
The Seasiders continued their impressive march up the Toolstation Premier Division table with Saturday’s 4-1 away victory over a Bitton team they rose above into ninth place on the back of it.
Now Clevedon confront a Buckland outfit struggling to dig their way out of difficulties in the lower reaches of the table and in search of a new manager after Paul Froude tendered his resignation in the wake of their 5-1 weekend home defeat by Mousehole.
Froude had steered the South Devon side into the fifth round of the FA Vase this term before coming unstuck at Newport Pagnell Town in a penalty shootout.
White said: “We don’t really know what to expect against Buckland with a managerial departure there in the week. It can go one of two ways.
“We’re expecting a strong reaction from them and Buckland are always going to be difficult opponents. Look at their FA Vase run this year; it proves the quality they have. But we know if we show up and play as well as we have been, we can take a positive result from the game.”
Of that latest win at the expense of a Bitton outfit heading in the opposite direction in the Prem at this time, the Seasiders supremo said: “It was an excellent team performance and, to be honest, relatively comfortable for us throughout. We knew we had legs in the team and felt we could take the game the distance. That was proven when we came on strong in the second half and effectively blew them away.
“It was a big win for us because it meant we leapfrogged them and kept our fantastic league form going against a big hitter in this league. Confidence is sky-high at the minute and we don’t really want the season to end. It’s a talented group, enriched by some brilliant under-18s coming through to add value in recent weeks when we’ve been a little short on numbers.”
Elsewhere in the Premier Division tomorrow, 11th-placed Keynsham Town host Bitton knowing victory would lift them above their tenth-placed opponents.
Tony Beecham’s Ashton & Backwell United, desperate to escape the clutches of the bottom two places, face a stern test on their Cornish travels against fifth-placed Saltash United, while Cadbury Heath go to Wellington and Brislington, who bounced back well from Saturday’s 5-0 humbling at Helston with Tuesday’s 3-0 victory over visiting Wellington, welcome title challengers Tavistock to the Poplar Insulation Stadium.
Longwell Green Sports’ optimistic assistant manager Mark Summers feels his team are in a “good place” to try their luck against a Sherborne Town force in relentless mood at the top of the Toolstation First Division table.
While Longwell have shown more competitive signs of late striving to push on from their fifth-bottom berth, visitors Sherborne have positively powered to the summit on a wave of 15 straight wins and 19 unbeaten outings since Wincanton Town toppled them 3-2 way back on November 2.
Chris Alway’s Sports know all about the threat posed by tomorrow’s Dorset-based guests after being stung by a 5-0 early-December defeat at the hands of their unstoppable hosts that day.
Summers recalled: “Sherborne gave us a bit of a shoeing there, although being down to the bare bones didn’t help.
“Sherborne are made up of a tough group of experienced and well-organised men. They showed all of that strength against us, while we were unable to lay a glove on them.”
The Longwell Green No 2 says he and his management team have cause for optimism heading into the fixture on the strength of recent improved performances.
“We should have beaten Bristol Telephones at theirs at the end of last month instead of drawing 3-3 after conceding a late equaliser,” said Summers. “That was frustrating, but the draw at least stopped the rot for us. Lebeq United then came to us and we more than held our own to hold what is a very good team of experienced players to a goalless draw.
“We next went a little nervously to play the bottom team, Devizes, who had shown signs of picking up. Instead, we performed really well to win 5-2 there.
“Okay, we did lose 3-0 at home to a very good Wincanton team. In the end it was about key moments, but we came away feeling not too disappointed.”
Second-placed Welton Rovers, delighted 1-0 home victors over Oldland Abbotonians in midweek, take on Bishops Lydeard at West Clewes.
Many tributes have been paid to Almondsbury secretary Doug Coles. Announcing his death last weekend on their Twitter account, the club stated: “It is with great sadness to have to inform our footballing community of the passing of Mr Doug Coles after a long illness.
“I’m sure all will agree you could not have met a kinder man with an extraordinary commitment to Almondsbury FC.”
A minute’s silence was observed on and off the pitch immediately ahead of Almondsbury’s 7-1 defeat by Gillingham Town in Dorset on Saturday.
Cribbs and Thornbury Town feature tomorrow in Hellenic Bluefin Sports Challenge Cup encounters. Cribbs, 4-0 winners at Chipping Sodbury Town on Tuesday night to safely negotiate the first hurdle, host Roman Glass St George in round two, while Thornbury are away against Stonehouse Town for a first-stage affair.
Thorns will approach that with one eye on Tuesday night’s tasty home clash with AEK Boco in the GFA Trophy semi-finals at Mundy Fields (7.30pm).
The winners will face in the final either Brimscombe and Thrupp or Roman Glass, who collide 24 hours later at The Meadow (7.45pm).
Disappointed and potentiallyrelegated Hallen, who fell 1-0 at home to Roman Glass in a Challenge Cup first-round tie in midweek, have completed their 38 league fixtures and no longer have the chance to lift themselves off bottom spot.