Wrens must focus to double up

Rainworth Miners Welfare will have a third go at completing their first Evo-Stik Northern Premier League double of the season on Saturday when Loughborough Dynamo visit Kirklington Road, writes Gordon Foster.

The two sides have already met twice, both at Dynamo's Nanpantan Sports Ground, with Rainworth coming out on top in First Division South action and Loughborough succeeding in the Doodson Sport Cup.

Wrens manager Scott Rickards will pit himself against an old Rainworth foe in the Leicestershire club's manager Tommy Brookbanks who has a long-standing friendly rivalry with the club from his playing days in the old Notts Alliance of the 1980s and 1990s. The Wrens generally came out on top, so he always looks forward to his visits to Kirklington Road where he was always respected by fans as a worthy opponent.

Brookbanks will be relishing the chance to settle those old scores as an added personal bonus while Rickards is determined to see his side use their heads in what he expects will be a battle of wits.

Rickards said: "I know a fair bit about them, I’ve played against them a few times, and this season we’ve been there twice already, winning in the league but losing in the Doodson Sport Cup. They are a good footballing team, and they will look to come here and give us a tough game, so it won’t be anything like Tuesday’s cup tie, it will be a bit more tactical and technical, but that should not be a problem for us.

"If our own mindset is right and we defend as well as we are capable then we won’t give sloppy goals away, we won’t give teams a head start, and we won’t give them the chance to beat us, because we have shown that we are capable of scoring goals."

Rainworth will also be looking to launch another unbeaten run in the league after they paid the price for a gung-ho approach at Romulus last weekend in a 4-2 defeat. Having suffered a nightmare first half, the Wrens pulled back a two goal deficit. But in then going all out to win it, they left themselves exposed at the back and the Roms capitalised with two late goals.

Rainworth did make progress, though, in the Notts Senior Cup on Tuesday, but had to be patient before two second half goals sank Central Midlands League visitors Bulwell to book their place in the quarter-final. Rainworth have targeted the Nottinghamshire Senior Cup as a competition to be won this season, so Rickards was both delighted to have seen off a physical side and relieved to have avoided a potential embarrassment.

Reflecting on the tie, and also on the defeat at Romulus, he added: "The cup tie was a tough game against a strong team regardless of their level, we knew what to expect from them and that if we matched their physicality our quality would shine through in the end. So we are delighted to be into the quarter-final, but our primary focus is now back with the league, and getting another unbeaten run going after the disappointment of fighting back so well at Romulus last Saturday only to lose it in the last five minutes.

"We had worked so hard to get ourselves back into a game where we had more or less gifted them a two goal lead. It wasn’t so much that they had carved us open in the first half, it was down more to our own mistakes. It took us far too long to adapt to the surface, we under-performed, and that was reflected in the scoreline at half time. But once we had got ourselves back into the game we looked the more likely winners.”