Wrens set for big double-header

Weather permitting, Rainworth MW have a big home four-day double coming up this week with Pickering Town and Bridlington Town due at Kirklington Road.
Liam RoylesLiam Royles
Liam Royles

As things stand, prospects of Saturday’s match against Pickering look slim as a result of the arctic blast, but the Wrens boss is making preparations for that and Tuesday’s showdown with the Seasiders in case there is a sudden change in the weather.

And last Saturday’s 3-0 victory at Staveley, the second successive away win by that score following the previous midweek’s League Cup triumph at Rossington, looks to be the ideal preparation.

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Should Saturday’s game go ahead, Pickering will arrive as promotion contenders, but Denton believes that his men have a realistic chance of denting the Pikes’ hopes if they can reproduce the form of their last two results.

He said: “We go into it on the back of two 3-0 away wins in which our professionalism has shown through, firstly in negotiating a difficult League Cup tie at Rossington, then carrying the plusses from that result into last Saturday at Staveley, where we put in an excellent performance, and kept another clean sheet meaning Andy Francis, who has come in for injured keeper Ben Townsend, has still to concede a goal.

“It was a very satisfying performance at Staveley. We try to encourage all our players to have a go at goal if an opportunity is on, and twice we had a go when the Staveley keeper was out of his goal, and twice we found the net. Sometimes these go for you, sometimes they don’t, but let’s take nothing away from Tomas Poole and Kyle Jordan who scored them.”

The Wrens have had good and bad news on the injury front, with Townsend having tweeted that he believes his season is over following his knee injury sustained in the last home match, a 2-2 draw against Garforth Town. Meanwhile both Tomas Poole and Jack Waddle suffered knocks at Staveley.

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Denton continued: “Tomas Poole is a man who will always want to play on through injury if he can, but we decided to bring him off because we have a strong bench so there’s no point in aggravating it. And I am expecting Jack to be fully recovered and able to play. On the plus side it was pleasing to see Liam Royles having a warm up before the match at Staveley after his long lay off.”

Meanwhile there has been a change in personnel within the management team, with coach Nev Hunt having parted company with the club, but Denton has wasted no time in bringing in Matt Young to replace him.

“We thank Nev for his work with us, but we know also that we have a top quality coach in his place. Matt works with Sheffield Wednesday, and is a good friend of both myself and Rob Poulter, so we are delighted with this appointment,” ended the Wrens boss.