Wrens Better Prepared This Year

RAINWORTH MW joint manager Billy Millar declared this week that the Wrens will be better prepared for their second season in Evo-Stik League Division One South than they were last season.

Speaking after Tuesday night’s comfortable 4-0 victory over Sutton Town, Millar insisted that they are in a much better position than they were this time last year, when they were looking forward to their first season at Step 4 level.

He admitted that player-wise they were still a little short in certain areas and perhaps had to many players in other areas, but said: “Despite that, we are looking stronger overall, we are more savvy as to what to expect this year than we were last year, and we will be better prepared.

“A lot of people didn’t know quite what to expect last year – although I did – but you can’t magic experience up. You can only gain experience of situations and levels by being there.

“We are going in the right direction and overall Lee (joint manager Lee Wilkinson) and I are quite happy, along with Darren Kelk (coach).

“If there is a concern it is that we are not scoring enough goals from the chances we are creating, but we are creating them, and we’ve still got our fingers in a couple of pies to try to boost our chances to goals ratio.”

After having a couple of opponents pull out of matches, other than the initial bonanza against Mansfield Town Rainworth have only faced Central Midlands opposition so far, although the three games they have played against CML clubs have yielded 12 goals – but that figure could and maybe should have been much higher given some chances that have been missed.

Indeed on Tuesday night the Sutton goal bore a charmed life although Ian Clarke, Craig Mitchell, Rob Paling and James Forbes all hit the target with well-taken strikes.

But joint boss Lee Wilkinson added: “Ideally you build up your level of opposition as your pre-season preparations go on, but unfortunately we’ve been let down by a couple of clubs including Notts County this Saturday.

“We are still looking to replace that game with a meaningful fixture, and stronger opposition between now and the start of the league season will provide us with sterner tests as we continue to build to get players fit for 13th August.”

The Magpies had been due to send two teams out this weekend, but injury problems have meant they have had to consolidate into one fixture so they have withdrawn from the Rainworth game.

Unless a replacement fixture is arranged, the Wrens will be next in action on Tuesday, away to NCEL Premier Division outfit Long Eaton United.

Looking forward, Millar concluded: “We have a pretty good idea of our intended starting line-up for our first league game against Shepshed, apart from a couple of exceptions.
“It would be nice if Ian Clarke and Danny Mayman could be fully fit for the start after both have suffered more than their share of injuries in the last couple of years.

“We’ve got a big squad of players but we don’t want to chop it too early and then find we have left ourselves short for the start of the season proper.”