Fringe players to get their chance

9:00am Sat Feb 18, 2012

Fringe players will have the chance to prove their worth to the Newark Town cause as the team battles for honours on four fronts.

Manager Tony Joynes says his squad’s strength in depth is key to coping with a fixture backlog caused by postponements.

The Blues’ League Challenge Cup game at Yorkshire Main on Saturday was the latest to fall victim to the cold snap.

It follows two earlier postponements of a league game at Pinxton and the Notts Senior Cup home tie against Bilborough Pelican.

The Main game has been rearranged as a midweek fixture, meaning Joynes’s men face a spell of Saturday and Wednesday football as they enter the decisive period of the season.

The team are also fighting for silverware in the Notts Senior Cup and the Floodlit Cup, and are only seven points off the top of the Central Midlands League South.

Joynes said: “We are going to have some midweek games now with one or two players not available because of work commitments, but everybody is in the same boat.

“We are blessed with a good strong squad this season and the bench has been very good for us. One or two others can come in and show what they can do.

“The pleasing thing is all the lads are frustrated they haven’t been playing and want to get straight back into it.”

Town face AFC Hucknall today in the league, a team they have twice dispatched convincingly already this season, winning 6-0 in the league and 5-1 in January’s cup clash.

But both games were at Station Lane, and Joynes says nobody in his squad will be treating the trip to Nottingham lightly.

“The last result was a bit harsh on them,” said Joynes.

“They are a feeder team for Hucknall Town and they have the option of playing one or two of their fringe players, which will strengthen them.

“Every game is tough and we go into every game anticipating a test. We need to carry on what we have been doing so far.”