Easter bounce needed after Saturday from hell

Rainworth Miners Welfare manager Scott Rickards is looking to his side's Easter programme to provide a morale booster ahead of the Notts Senior Cup final, writes Gordon Foster.

The Wrens travel to Chasetown, one of Rickards' former clubs in First Division South on Saturday before entertaining local rivals Carlton Town on Easter Monday in a rehearsal for the cup final between the two sides at Hucknall Town’s ground eight days later.

Rainworth received confirmation from the Football Association this week that they’d become an FA Charter Standard Adult Club but still go into the holiday programme badly in need of a boost after a Saturday when it all went wrong for them in a 4-1 home defeat by Belper Town.

They began with a depleted side and then saw Rickards sent off before half time and leading scorer Ashley Longstaff suffer a hamstring pull three minutes into the restart.

Rickards took full responsibility for the defeat, insisting that had Rainworth kept 11 men on the field they might well have got a result from the match.

He said: "We were already short-staffed before the match with my assistant Matt Clarke also away, and everything just went against us - it was just one of those days.

"There had been a bit of a build-up to the incident, I moved my leg, not forcefully, but their lad has made a bit of a meal of it in front of his own dugout, they have responded, and the referee has bought it.

"But I have to take the responsibility for leaving the team in that situation to cope with a physical, direct side. Ash has been carrying an injury since before Christmas and it caught up with him just at the wrong moment, if ever there is a right one.

"Had he not pulled up I would have backed him to score in that situation, but it's just one more thing that has gone against us, which is the story of our season.

"But full credit to our lads who held out for over an hour against a team already certain to be in the play-offs. They tried to remain organised and to salvage something out of a bad day but it wasn't to be.

"Moments change matches, and a bit of naivety has cost us when we tried to play the ball out from the back, it's been stolen, and finished up in the back of the net."

Longstaff's injury may well have brought his season to a premature end and Rickards himself will not now be available for the final, instead serving the second of a three match ban for his dismissal. He will also be frustrated to miss the return to his former club, Sutton Coldfield Town, when the Wrens wrap up their league season next weekend.

Despite that, he added: "We're just trying to keep everyone fit and get everyone back for the final, to give us our best possible chance of winning it. Monday will give us a good chance to see what Carlton have to offer, although of course that works two ways, and to test ourselves.

"As for my own situation, I can't change what's happened, I will just have to get on and deal with it."

* The Wrens are offering U18s free admission to their final home game of the season on Easter Monday against Carlton Town. Under 13s must be accompanied by a paying or ticket-holding adult.