New blood imminent, insists manager Wilson
Friday 28 September
Kevin Wilson is poised to ring the changes at the New Manor Ground in response to Ilkeston FC’s disappointing start to the season.
The Robins boss makes only one change to his line-up for tomorrow’s FA Trophy trip to Stourbridge - Greg Pearson comes in at left back to replace the unavailable Russell Peel - but he’s more concerned with the overall picture.
There’s no doubt that the failure to hit the ground running in the Premier Division has been significantly influenced by injuries to key players.
But Wilson is not prepared to wait any longer in the hope that things will eventually fall into place and supporters can expect to see significant changes in personnel over the next week or so.
Alex Ford and Andrew Osei-Siribour have gone out on a month’s loan to Hucknall Town and Belper Town respectively, Adam Somes has left the club, and the manager confirmed that he has given seven days notice of an approach for several players.
He said: “I think it is time to freshen things up and there is likely to be a fair bit of movement over the next week - both in and out.
“We will be watching very carefully to see how Ford and Osei-Siribour perform while they are out on loan and I certainly haven’t closed the door on them having a future with us.
“But they haven’t really staked a claim for first-team places as I would have liked and we cannot wait any longer. We are definitely active in trying to bring people in and I expect a striker to join us in the next couple of days.”
Tomorrow’s tough task sees us visit Stourbridge, who had a resounding 8-1 win last midweek against Banbury United and currently sit in second spot in the Evo-Stik League Southern Premier.
Wilson is hopeful that his youngsters, including recent signing Aaron Hooton (pictured celebrating his goal in midweek), will continue where they left off at Belper.
None of the long list of casualties has a chance of figuring and Wilson said: “It’s going to be a tough assignment against a big, strong side who are very dangerous from set-pieces. But so are Belper - and we proved on Tuesday that we can cope with that when we concentrate properly.”
• Ilkeston FC youngsters, having beaten Hinckley in the opening round of the FA Youth Cup, travel to New Mills on Wednesday in the next stage of the competition.
