7:50am Friday 19th March 2010
Purton will look to close the gap to table-toppers Cheltenham Sars as they face a home fixture against local rivals Cricklade Town this weekend, writes RUSSELL MAGGS.
Purton Manager Chris Pethick said he was fully aware of the threat possesed by this weekend’s opponents despite their current poor form.
“They (Cricklade) are a lot stronger than they were and have a lot of new faces. We expect a very tough game.,” he said.
“We’ve had a great season. I have set the players the challenge of winning the last nine matches, and they have already won one of them.
“Winning the league would really be the icing on the cake this year.”
Due to league regulations Purton are unable to achieve promotion this year but that won’t prevent them challenging for top spot.
Purton are without strikers Tom Cadden (injury) and Paul Day (holiday) who has scored 11 goals in the last 12 games.
Elsewhere, Cirencester United face Launton Sports on Saturday full of optimism, despite disappointing results of late.
Ciren have won once this season, in November last year against this weekends opponent.
However, the Gloucestershire side are in high spirits after a much improved performance during a friendly victory last week, and the confident midweek display that saw Cirencester unluckily concede a two-goal lead to controversial penalty decisions.
Ciren are without two centre backs as boss Dave Tyler struggles to achieve a full compliment once again.
But the manager insists his team are not getting ahead of themselves, and is wary of a possible banana skin against their basement opponents.
“On any given day, anyone can get a good result, anybody can beat anybody in this league,” he said.
“The last three games have seen things really start to come together. We have a good bunch of lads trying to pick up more points.”
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