Saints face prospect of slipping to third
SAINTS’ anguish for losing in Alderney will likely be added to by tea-time tomorrow.
Should Sylvans win at home to bottom-of-the-table Rangers and make it 11 games without loss, they will leapfrog St Martin’s and go second in the FNB Priaulx League table with almost half the season completed.
For all Rangers’ recent improvement it is hard to see them getting much joy from their visit to St Peter’s and with leaders Rovers away at struggling Manzur, Leon Meakin’s black-and-whites could be six adrift of top spot, albeit with two games in hand, by nightfall.
Rovers head to the Track with Will Fazakerley definitely restored to the attack after missing last weekend’s Corbet Field deluge and with the firm possibility of Fin Whitmore also returning.
Whitmore is back in training and expected to feature in some form against a Manzur side with ongoing defensive issues.
Already heavily depleted in that department, Manzur’s loss at Sylvans was quickly followed by news that Nick Trebert was transferring back to the westerners.
But, worse still, is the club’s goalkeeping crisis which has moved on to new levels since last week when Tom Creed came out of retirement to bale them out.
Coach Mark Romeril reports that they are now seven keepers down and he has no idea who will play between the sticks against Rovers.
It is a wholly genuine seven too.
Richard Davey, Jordan Kelly, Miguel Santos, Kyle Carre and Creed are all out, the latter playing his first-choice rugby tomorrow.
But, in addition, defenders Mark Rihoy and Leighton Chainey, who have previously worn the gloves in emergencies, are also unavailable.
‘I’d be surprised if it that [casualty list] has even been surpassed in the history of the Priaulx League,’ said the coach.
One piece of positive news for Manzur is the long-awaited return of GFC midfielder Kieran Mahon, who got a short run-out in the closing stages at St Peter’s last week.
Both of tomorrow’s games kick off at 2pm.
