Pitching In Southern League Premier Division South
Hungerford Town v Tiverton Town
Bulpit Lane . 3pm
A SAM de St Croix goal was the difference between the sides in the reverse fixture, back at the start of December, the 1-0 defeat for Yellows suggesting a close encounter. In all fairness, there was very little in that game: Hungerford are one of the better footballing sides to visit the Ian Moorcroft Stadium.
In Conor McDonagh, they have a striker whose hold-up play and overall ability up top is as good as any in his position. Elis Watts proved a real handful in the home game from his wide-right berth, like he did when playing against us for Weston-super-Mare last season, and the skilful and pacy Welsh man will need close attention from the Yellows’ players.
Manager Danny Robinson took over the hot seat in 2020 and his stock had definitely risen at that point. The former Thatcham Town boss had engineered a rise through the leagues there and lifted the FA Vase. Today, Robinson’s team currently are challenging for a play-off place and sit in ninth position.
Tivvy namesake Leigh Robinson and first-team coach Ben Gerring will be very much aware of going all out to win this game against the grain. Without finding a winning mentality and putting some results together, our future in the division will look bleaker by the game. There is, of course, time to change the direction we are heading.
The firepower of Alex Fletcher and Joe Parker gives us a bit of hope. However, as Leigh Robinson touched on following the recent Totton loss, if we concede two goals every game, the likelihood of victory is not a strong one. Marcio Neves provided a promising cameo last Saturday, and he will be a more than adequate replacement for Alefe Santos, who has returned to Poole, but we will need the whole team to be firing on all cylinders consistently to avoid the drop.
As Robinson also identified, his team is more than capable of beating higher opposition although I am sure he would agree that the proof of that is in the results. The challenge for his side is to prove it over a number of games and not just having isolated successes. With ten games to play after this match-up, this is the only recipe for survival.
The atrocious weather through February and March so far has not helped matters, with many home games not taking place, and pressure has mounted on us because of this.
There are seven home games and three away games following this. My personal targets of at least five wins from the remaining fixtures and having 40 points on the board by the end of the month are not impossible.
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