One in, one out at Rainworth

POPULAR defender Cameron Fearon has left Rainworth to try his luck in Blue Square Bet North football with Eastwood Town.

But as Fearon moves on after 2½ years with the Wrens, manager Kevin Gee has recruited central defender Romaine Graham from Hucknall Town.

Fearon is the third player to leave Kirklington Road in the last 10 days, following the departures of Chris Timons to East Midlands Counties League Blackwell MW and keeper Gavin Saxby to Evo-Stik NPL Division One South colleagues Belper Town.

Speaking to the club website, manager Kevin Gee admitted the loss of Fearon was expected.

“When I spoke to Cameron, although he was enjoying the changes taking place, I just felt that he had set his heart on trying to test himself to see if he could play at the higher level - and of course the financial package Eastwood offered him by far exceeded anything we can offer, so he has gone with our blessing, I have wished him well and we move on.”

Regarding new signing Romaine Graham, Gee confirmed: “I'm delighted to have got the signature of Romaine from Hucknall Town. Irrespective of the Cameron situation, I had already spoken to the manager of Hucknall Town as to whether or not Romaine was available.

“At the time he'd just loaned him out to Dunkirk for a month but when that loan period had finished I went back in for him.

“I saw a lot of Romaine in the early part of the season when Tommy Brookbanks was the manager of Hucknall and he played nearly all of the games, partnering Wayne Duik in the centre of defence.

“He played exceptionally well when man marking Matt Haddrell at Leek in the 0-0 home game and I instantly took a liking to him. He's a strong fit lad but more importantly young enough and disciplined enough to develop his raw talent, which is what I have to keep unearthing within my financial restraints.

“It may be with the loss of Cameron, Steve Kennedy’s imminent suspension and Tommy Hannigan’s niggling injuries that I will need to bring another central defender in - we'll just have to monitor the situation.

“We looked a very good side on Saturday and made a very good side in Stamford look ordinary which is a credit to the squad. But we need to keep improving as there is still a long way to go and hard work to be put in if we are to achieve our goal and retain our Northern Premier League membership.

“However, if there are any players out there that I think will continue to improve the strength and depth of the squad within budget then I'll keep bringing them in.”

Looking forward to Saturday’s trip to Newcastle Town, Gee warned of a tough battle there against another side now regularly picking up points after an indifferent start, and one which could continue to the end of the season.

Newcastle, like Rainworth, have recovered from a poor start and their recovery, aided by hotshot Anthony Malbon’s 24 goals in all competitions so far, got under way before that of the Wrens.

There is a possibility of a weather intervention, but assuming that the match goes ahead defender Tommy Hannigan and midfielder Niall O’Rafferty will face fitness tests, but Steve Kennedy will be available for this match before his four-match ban kicks in on Monday following his sending-off at Romulus.

Kirklington Road was buzzing at the end of the Wrens’ best performance of the season last weekend, when promotion-chasing Stamford were comprehensively beaten 3-0 with goals from Ant Lynam, Ben Spargo, and Matt Glass who had signed from Sheffield during the week.

Said Gee: “We looked strong and fit, especially in the second half, and could well have had a few more goals, but we must also remember the solid performance at the back to shut out their potent strike force and keep another clean sheet.

“What is pleasing to me is our strength in depth – for instance Nathan Adams has been our most prolific scorer since he arrived, but he had not been available during the week so he sat on the bench – but the reaction when he went on was that nothing changed. We also had Ian Clarke and Lee Cooksey on the bench – these are real pros who understand the situation, but the team spirit is high as is the belief that we can and will win football matches.”

But Gee added a note of caution, pointing out: “What we will be up against soon is that clubs with better finanacial resources than ours will start to try to buy their way out of trouble – although it’s no good having money to spend unless you have the right person spending it.

“Our restraints are what they are, and that doesn’t bother me. I’ll work within those confines and bring in players who will help maintain our improvement.”

Gee added a word of praise for new boy Glass following his exciting debut, saying: “Normally new players need time to bed in, but Matt is an exceptional footballer who blended straight away.

“We now have the pace to match our strength. Pace frightens teams, and I would like to think that opponents will compliment us for what we do well which some from Stamford didn’t do, saying instead ‘we didn’t play’.

“They played as well as they were allowed to play, and we got three goals and a clean sheet against a promotion chasing team, so surely we deserve some credit.”