BROMSGROVE SPORTING manager Paul Smith will be drilling into his players they need to put on a show for the fans in their final home game of the season.
Tomorrow, Sporting welcome Heath Hayes to the Victoria Ground which will bring the curtain down on the Rouslers’ home campaign but their promotion hopes have all but ended after Thursday night’s 1-1 draw to Racing Club Warwick.
Despite leading for most of the game courtesy of Josh Westwood’s 30th minute strike, Sporting conceded right at the death and now find themselves six points behind Midland League Division One leaders Coventry United with four games to go.
Ahead of tomorrow’s clash, Smith will be without Reece Hewitt, Dan Morris, Sam Wills, and Jozsef Jakab while Jack Wilson and Brendan Kelly are expected to make a return to action.
Smith said: “Coventry United have got one hand and three fingers on the title. It was a must-win game for us at Racing Club Warwick but we’ve been running empty for a while now.
“When you go into a game without the likes of Kelly, Wilson, Morris, Wills, Jakab and Hewitt you’re really up against it and it showed on Thursday.
“We’ve been injury free for most of the season but it’s finally caught up with us and we looked really tired and jaded in our performance and when you’re 1-0 up you run the risk of letting your opponents back into the game and that was the case on Thursday.
“However, we’ve got our final home game of the season tomorrow and I’ll be hoping that the players go out there and put on a show for the fans as they have been absolutely tremendous and broke records.”
On a much brighter note for Sporting, Smith’s side reached their second cup final of the season as they came from behind to beat Northfield Town 4-2 to secure a place in the final of the Smedley Crooke Memorial Charity Cup where they will meet Pilkington XXX on Saturday, May (3pm KO) at the Victoria Ground.
And for Smith, he was happy to see his side progress but praised the efforts of half-time substitutes Luke Dugmore, Liam Spink and Aaron Roberts who inspired the Rouslers towards victory.
“It was a bit of a nervous performance on Tuesday night but I was really pleased with the result,” he said.
“The half-time substitutions really turned the game in our favour and on the night, we probably should have run out bigger winners but their keeper put on one of the best performances I have ever seen.
“We’ve played Pilkington twice already this season and me and their manager joked of playing against each other in the final and it’s gone and happened.
“It’s going to be a big occasion and as I always said, we enter competitions to win them so let’s hope for a decent crowd and that the players put on a good performance.”
Keep up with all the action from tomorrow’s game against Heath Hayes with the Bromsgrove Standard’s live feed at 2pm.
