MATCH: Ramsbottom United v Glossop North End
VENUE: Harry Williams Riverside Stadium, Ramsbottom
COMPETITION: Pitching In Northern Premier League West Division
DATE: Saturday 18th September 2021
KICK-OFF: 3.00pm
ADMISSION:
You can pay on the gate – adults £9, concessions £5, students (age 17-18) £6, children under 12 £1 (with a paying adult).
OVERVIEW:
With two league defeats on the spin across the last week, Ramsbottom United manager Lee Donafee is desperate to get back to winning ways.
He was disappointed with the manner of the two defeats but knows that a game against one of his former clubs will be a tough encounter but a chance to put right the errors from the previous seven days.
“We should have got something out of the game on Tuesday night”, he feels. “It was frustrating as we had the chances, certainly the clearer chances and the one they scored, well, that’s just the way it is.”
But now he turns his focus to the visit of Glossop North End, a club that he has a great deal of love and respect for, given his history with them.
“It will be the first time that I have come up against them since I left. I have huge respect for the club and an enormous amount of respect for the fans, who are the heartbeat of the club, much like the Rammy fans are with us.
“However, for 90 minutes, the focus will be on Ramsbottom United. Harry has put me in charge to get results for Rammy and we need a win after back-to-back defeats, which have really hurt me.
“They are a young, hungry side so we will need to play well. We have played well in the last two games but sometimes you don’t get what you deserve.”
We have played well and not got any reward for those efforts so will be wary of a Glossop North End side have come to the HWRS in 15th place with six points to their name and just a single victory in their second game against Runcorn Linnets.
Since then though, they have secured just one point from the next available 18 … but don’t let that count for anything – ask Prescot Cables last weekend.
STAT OF THE PREVIEW:
The Rams have won six of the last eight meetings with Glossop North End dating back to August 2011 – including winning the last four, scoring 14 goals to Glossop’s 3.
LEAGUE FORM GUIDE (most recent game first):
Ramsbottom United: L L W W W W L D
Glossop North End: L D L L L L D W D
HISTORY:
You can read all about the history between the Rams and Glossop North End in our comprehensive “Have We Met” article, which is below:
TEAM NEWS:
The manager has a couple of injury worries to deal with ahead of Saturday’s game.
Eddie Cooper limped off after 24 minutes in the 1-0 defeat at Workington on Tuesday night and is a doubt for this game against one of his former clubs so Khalil Osi-Efa has been recalled from his loan at Litherland REMYCA as cover.
And Jake Thompson, who sat on the bench in midweek but didn’t feature, hasn’t quite recovered from his injury so the manager will speak to him to assess his fitness.
“He didn’t quite feel right in the warm-up”, admits Lee. “So I will speak to him and see how he is ahead of the game on Saturday.
“Eddie took a knock in the game and he can’t shake it off so we will look at him and see how he is but I have called Khalil back just in case.”
With regards to the two defeats, he admits that he is hurting. “It hurts when we lose. I got told I overthink a lot and I probably do but I want to do what’s best for the club and I think I am picking good enough teams to win games but credit to Prescot, who kept going to get the winner and we had one hit the bar, hit the post and one disallowed against Workington so we aren’t getting the rub right now.
“Time to put that right on Saturday against Glossop.”
