No ‘messing’ this time insists Romeril

The clash between the league’s two form sides promises to be a cracker and if November’s eight-goal bonanza on the same ground is anything like a reliable guide, the westerners will have to be defensively very sound to stretch their unbeaten record to a 13th game.

Mark Romeril, the Manzur coach, is confident, not least because when his team lost 5-3 five weeks ago they were in the midst of a goalkeeping crisis and had no defence to talk of.

Suddenly, in the space of a few weeks Manzur have looked every bit like title contenders and have settled on a hugely impressive new central defensive combination, the equal of any in the division.

Romeril says while the season goal remains ‘to win something’, he suspects his team have dropped too many points to be serious contenders.

‘I haven’t looked at the Priaulx table for a month,’ he said ahead of being informed his men sit fifth.

‘Saturday’s massive for us and if we win we will be looking at a top three finish. But we’ve probably given ourselves too much to do.’

But, no sooner had those words come out of his mouth, he points out that Manzur still have seven games against the division’s bottom three. ‘We haven’t played Rangers yet, we have got Alderney twice [in Guernsey] and Rec twice.’

Twenty-one points from those seven games would see Manzur sail past their record Priaulx tally of 32 and that’s without the spoils gained from the six games they still have to play against sides in the top half.

There is little doubt that their current XI is as a good as any, not least because of the return of Kez Mahon to central midfield but also an excellent defensive combination in Thomas Dodds and Tom Martin.

Together, they have been a revelation and while Romeril does not rule out either man being thrust forward into midfield in their remaining games, ‘if it’s a big game “Doddsy” and Tom, they’re my first choice centre-backs’.

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The security provided by Dodds is no surprise and when the two sides met last time around the emergency switch of the GFC man into central defence brought instant dividends. The problem was, by then Manzur had virtually lost the game.

The subsequent move to put the left-footed Martin alongside him has worked a dream and the latter is now playing as well as anyone in the league.

Will this notably restless and, sad to say, previously uncommitted or regularly injured player, stay there?

Romeril suggests Martin is happy to put team priority ahead of his own preference to play in a more advanced, creative role.

‘I think he feels there is more to his game as just a defender.

‘But he likes playing with ‘’Doddsy’’ and that helps. they are a good combination and his best performances have, without doubt, been there.’

Romeril insisted Martin has been easy to manage this season.

‘He is as good as gold. he has always come to training and he’s also been training with GFC.

‘The good thing is that when he gets the ball in defence he doesn’t just whack the ball forward. He has been excellent there.’

Romeril looks back at the still relatively recent 5-3 reverse at Sylvans and views it ‘as a mess’.

‘We were a mess that day really. We had To, Creed coming in on the morning of the game, no defence and we lost Nick Trebert early on.

‘But we still scored three and should have scored six.’

With Manzur expected to be virtually at full strength – only right-back Ben Youlton is missing and Peter Ffoulkes will return – Sylvans will be very wary of the visitors’ attacking strength, not least the excellent Marlon Jardim.

The game is scheduled for a 2pm kick off.