Players’ meeting clears the air at Rovers
ROVERS scraped their first league win of the season on the back of a large dollop of fortune at home to Manzur and a players’ meeting called by their double Priaulx League winning coach Jez Robin.
It wasn’t pretty by Robin’s men on Saturday, but he was nevertheless relieved to get the points and hopes for three more tonight when they visit Northfield, where they historically clinched that first Priaulx title back in the spring of 2017.
He said the meeting had helped to ease some of the frustrations in the camp after a difficult start in which they have played few league games, lost a couple of them, and been weakened by players committing to Guernsey FC.
‘We are in a bit of a limbo situation at the moment with the GFC lads training [away] and I just wanted to get their views on what I was doing and everybody was in agreement that it was the right thing to do.
‘There were a few frustrations expressed, but the difficulty is that we have had such massive highs in the last few seasons that when things don’t go so well everybody gets down a little bit. But that’s football.
‘It was me mainly talking and listening, but a few said a few things and it was all good, all fine. We know we’ve got to stick together.’
As for Saturday’s performance: ‘It was good to get the win. We had a fair few still missing, so we did alright.
‘I think we should have have scored a couple more in the first half, but obviously they could have scored a few in the second half.’
On the downside, Blair Howitt picked up an injury which saw him walking about on crutches at the GFC game 24 hours later.
But Tyler McKane should be back in the starting side having come off the bench against Manzur.
Meanwhile, Rangers’ new coach Gary Simon says he is upbeat about the significant improvement in his side, largely down to the presence of Matt Loaring for a couple of games.
‘He’s made a massive difference for us,’ said Simon, whose team entertain Vale Rec, another side without a point yet, on Saturday.
‘We are starting to get somewhere now,’ added Simon, who is also pleased with the performances of new signings Joe Clatworthy and Harry Smith, who have slotted in well alongside Loaring in midfield.
