Hall Road Rangers vs Bottesford Town

Haworth Park, 7.45pm

Tuesday February 20

Toolstation NCEL Premier Division

By Ollie Harsley

Photo courtesy of Lee Myers

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Hall Road will be hoping for better weather ahead of the visit of Bottesford Town to Haworth Park on Tuesday evening.

Their game against Maltby Main on Saturday was postponed which means that there is a real possibility of a fixture pile up towards the end of the season.

Hall Road boss Bill Gill (right, near) is happy with the selection choices he has to make ahead of this game and admits he doesn’t need to change much after previous games. “We have a full squad to choose from including new signing Jacob Norburn and we shouldn’t need to change much after the recent outing against Liversedge. Most of the lads did well that day and there’ll only be a few tweaks here and there and we should be all good for this fixture”, Gill said.

Bottesford sit in 12th place in the NCEL Premier Division and are relatively comfortable in mid table with their last league outing culminating in a 3-2 win at home to Harrogate Railway Athletic on Saturday.

The Poachers were 2-1 down at half time with Bradley Hockin scoring their only goal but they turned it around in the second half thanks to goals from Stephen McCarron and Ben Johnson.

Gill knows Bottesford well and complimented his side’s opponents on their win against Harrogate Railway on Saturday.

“We have played Bottesford enough times to know they graft hard and have a good shape. They will have a game plan and they showed some character this week coming from behind to win”, Gill said.

Bottesford’s away form has been okay so far this season as they have won 5 of their 13 away games.

Bottesford have lost 7 and drawn 1 of their other 8 away games which can give Hall Road confidence that they can get something from this game. Furthermore, Bottesford have been inconsistent lately in the league with 3 wins and 3 defeats in their last 6 games in the NCEL Premier Division.

This adds to Hall Road’s chances of picking up at least a point on Tuesday evening as the game will hinge on what Bottesford side turn up to Haworth Park.

Hall Road will want this game to be on as they need to find a win from somewhere which would get them closer to moving up the league table and away from relegation danger.

They have won 1 of their last 6 league games which isn’t the form needed to achieve this but if they can produce a positive result against Bottesford then it would provide a great start and may provide a catalyst for a better run of results.

It will be another match in which Hall Road may be considered to be the underdogs due to Bottesford’s higher league position and slightly better form but that will suit them completely.

They will be very much up for the fight and determined to get the right kind of result they need at this point of the season.

Gill also stressed the importance of using home games as a perfect opportunity for picking up crucial points and he wants his players to make Haworth Park a fortress for the rest of this season.

“We need to make our home form count now going into the last 17 games of the season of which 11 are at home”, Gill concluded.