Carr and Hendo Return

By Dave Picken - October 28 2005
Carr and Hendo Return
Phil Henderson
A combination of injuries and work committments mean there'll be a number of changes to the side which takes on a very useful Durham City side at Hollow Drift [kick off 3.00]. Both Anth Carr and Phil Henderson return in the pack with Tim Sawyer starting alongside the Boatmans.

The backs will be unchanged with last week's Man of the Match Phil Wallis at stand-off and Peter Hodgson at full back.

The coaches will be looking to build on two far better performances over the past fortnight. League leaders Beverely were rarely in the hunt last week. They were kept out of our 22 by some excellent defence with only an 80th minute consolation drop goal to show for their efforts.

But once again we failed to make possession turn into points. Both Davy Tighe and Paul Rudd spilled chances on the line, which would have given the scoreline a more balanced look, and at the same time several easy penalties were missed.

The result was that Beverley were always in with a shout and our fingernails took a pounding in the four minutes of injury time.

On paper it may be the same at Hollow Drift. City are one of the form teams, having won at Sheffield last week, and their game is also built on solid defence with very few points conceded.

West: Hodgson, Thomas, Edwards, Milne, Todd, Wallis, Tighe [capt], Cullinane, Carr, Cholmondeley, Davies, Henderson, Dan Boatman, Jon Boatman, Sawyer. Reps: Tones, Robinson, Colin Cheslin.

The high flying Stags have a break from the Merit League with a home game against Durham City II's. Like the firsts they have hardly been conceding any points but have been scoring freely. The number of players alternating between the firsts and the Stags shows the current strength in depth with both Williamson and Masshedar in the line-up tomorrow. Kick off 3.00 Brinkburn.

Stags: Masshedar, A Cheslin, M Tones, Robinson, Robson, Martin, Williamson, Phillips, Butler, Palmer, Garside, Clayton, Oliver, Richardson, Gilbraith: Reps: Franklin, Brown, C Miller, Williams.