Back in action

After a two week festive break, Whitley Warriors will be looking to widen the gap between themselves and third placed Trafford Metros when the two sides clash in an English National League fixture in Manchester tomorrow night, when coach Garry Dowd will be looking to see his side kick on in the second half of the season.

"I said at the start of the campaign my aim was for us to ensure we weren't sucked into a relegation battle after so many changes to the squad," he noted, "but we have done much better than that and now we must see what we can do to close the gap between ourselves and Billingham at the top of the table.

"And that starts with this weekend's fixture with Trafford," the coach added, "after fighting off relegation last season, the Metros have been the surprise package in ENL North Division One so far and are the main challengers to ourselves and Billingham.

"However, they had shown some signs of slipping before Christmas, so the break may have come at the right time for them and allowed the whole squad to re-focus," Dowd continued, "so it's up to us to ensure we don't allow them an opportunity to get their season back on track."

Metros coach Paul Bayliss has snapped up former Blackburn utility player Sean Day over the holiday period, which will strengthen their squad, but Dowd believes he has enough quality on his bench to get the job done.

"Although we still have some problems within the squad with the Pritchard brothers (Steve and Phil) both missing though injury and David Barrett unavailable for this game," he said, "we do welcome back Ally Brummitt and Mark Good back to the bench; and they will be good additions in defence and attack.

"Youngsters Harry Harley and Christian Johnson are on Under 18 duty this weekend and they will be a big miss also, but we still have a very good squad to take down to Altrincham; and I will be urging the players to go all out for the win."

The Warriors next home game is on January 15th, when Solihull Barons make their first visit to Hillheads in more than 10 years.