King urges his clinical Pitmen to fight on all fronts
Steve King has urged his Hednesford Town side to continue to be clinical in front of goal as his side host Quorn in the FA Trophy.
The Pitmen are hoping to continue their fine cup form after hammering Melton Town 6-1 in the FA Cup last weekend.
Hednesford boss King is delighted to see his side convert their chances into goals, and to have plenty of options with his squad entering the first qualifying round tie tomorrow.
“We’ve created a lot of chances and we’re only just starting to get the rewards of that,” said King. “It’s all about taking chances when they come and in the last two games we have.
“We’re going to get lots of chances because of the team that we’ve got, but we have to be clinical.
“We’re in a lot of cup competitions this year and we want to do well in every game we play.
“We’ve got the flexibility to rotate the squad and it doesn’t really change much.
“It was something that I wanted when I joined. I said you can’t have a squad of 11 to 12 really top players, we need a squad of 18 where we look at the bench and say ‘yes you can change the game and go and win it for us’.
“They’re all fighting and working hard in training, and all want to play, but they’re also very complementary of each other.”
The Pitmen manager has also been blown away by the support for his side, and looks forward to seeing it grow further in the future.
“They’ve been brilliant to me, really welcoming, and I hope I’ve been the same back,” he said. “We took about 300 on Saturday. With the way they’ve got behind the team it will hopefully only grow more and more.”
Meanwhile, Stafford Rangers visit Walsall Wood after beating Long Eaton United 4-3 on penalties midweek to progress in the competition.
The FA ordered the tie to be replayed after the Rangers fielded an ineligible player in the previous match, but Stafford said ‘the FA have also accepted that neither Stafford Rangers nor any of its officers knew, or could reasonably have known, even if they had made every reasonable enquiry, that the player was ineligible to play’.
Goalkeeper Cameron Belford starred in the victory, scoring a penalty in the shootout.
Elsewhere, Chasetown and Darlaston Town will both make long trips to Lincolnshire as Mark Swann’s side visit Grimsby Borough and the Citizens go to Cleethorpes Town. Darlaston suffered FA Cup heartbreak midweek, losing 3-2 to Harborough Town thanks to a 97th-minute penalty for the away side.
And, Sporting Khalsa go to Coventry Sphinx, looking to bounce back from a 6-1 loss to Basford United in the FA Cup last weekend.
