INJURY-hit Haverhill Rovers will be hoping Saturday's fans' day provides them with the timely boost they need after Saturday's thrashing at Walsham-le-Willows saw them fall eight points below the Ridgeons League Premier Division safety line.
Eight players were absent on Saturday and, although some could return for Saturday’s match with Woodbridge Town at Hamlet Croft, ten could be missing.
And that injury list, plus the uncertainty over the future of the manager’s job, could be leadin
g to a recent downturn in performances, according to caretaker assistant manager Derek Richardson.
“We are just getting knock after knock after knock and people are out all the time. It’s just crazy,” he said.
“I think we’ve got a chance to get out of it but we can’t do it with limited resources.
“It’s a difficult situation at the moment and I just feel as a whole club we need to sit down and reassess things.
“To be fair to the boys, there is probably a bit of uncertainty whether Neil (Farlie) is going to take the manager’s job or not.”
Defenders Neil Hammond and Jim Hollingsworth and midfielder Marc Abbott (all injured) could return but full backs Ryan Holder (injured) and Simon Newnes (unavailable), as well as Neil Cogger (unavailable) are all doubtful.
Captain Gareth Thomas (suspended and injured) will definitely be absent, along with defenders Paul Abbott and Lee Hurkett (both injured) and midfielder Joe Harvey (injured).
The injury list led to 16-year-old Jack Jones and 21-year-old Tom Kirk making their full debuts on Saturday.
Richardson said: “I felt sorry for the boys like that because they want to come into a side that is confident and people are there who can talk them through it.”
But the caretaker assistant boss insists his side can’t use the absentees as an excuse and must end their winless run in the league of 75 days.
He said: “We’ve just got to get results because we are losing touch and every game is becoming more and more important.”
The full article contains 358 words and appears in Haverhill Echo newspaper.
