Gloucester City assistant manager Dafydd Williams is only betting on the Tigers as they prepare for Bradford Park Avenue
Assistant manager Dafydd Williams is backing the Tigers on the horses this week as Gloucester City look to bounce back from the ‘feisty’ defeat at Gateshead.
While Williams admits the players have had a keen eye on the Cheltenham Festival this week, he is assured they are fully focused on Saturday.
“I can’t help but hear conversations about who they bet on and then when we get back into the clubhouse it’s on TV. It’s been a nice week for some and maybe not so much for others,” Williams joked.
Players will have to be at the races this Saturday as they visit a Bradford Park Avenue side which have struggled for form of late, offering the chance to get closer to the teams above.
The teams last met they played a goalless draw, despite City hitting the woodwork three times in the game.
“It’s also an opportunity to create a little gap between the teams below us, so at the end of the day we’re just looking at each other and taking a step in the right direction by the end of the season. “Williams said.
Last weekend’s 4-2 loss to Gateshead was only City’s second since January, with the other defeat coming against Brackley Town, who were also top of the league at the time.
Williams said: “We could have potentially come away with a point, I think it’s fair to say it was a spirited performance to come back to 2-2 and even at 3-2 Ollie (Hulbert) had a great chance to equalise.
“The fourth goal kind of sucked the life out of us. There was a feeling of disappointment because of the standards we showed defensively in the previous weeks.
Manager Lee Mansell confirmed last week that Jake Cole would potentially be out for another four weeks, leaving City without senior goalkeepers, only Uunder-21 keeper Alex Avenell who made his debut last week.
However, Williams confirmed City had managed to find a new signing.
“We had some positive news today so hopefully we’ll be able to confirm that tomorrow, so yeah it’s been a busy week on that front and fingers crossed it’s all over by Saturday.”
Avenell joins Jack Hill as the last academy prospect to make his first-team debut under Mansell.
As the Under-18s reach the GFA Youth Shield final in what has been a successful season for the ‘cubs’, there could be a few more who start to make it into the first team.
“The gaffer was here on Tuesday and we’re both here on Thursday night to get a chance to see the young players, so we always have an eye on them so we can bring them in if we need them.
“At the end of the day, for us, we have to do everything we can to confirm our survival and then we will have more opportunities to expose them to the first team environment for the guys to prepare for next season. .”
Bradford PA form (16and) – LLWLW
City of Gloucester form (18and) – LWDDD.
Predicted city XI (4-3-3) – TBA; Hall, Nugent, Martinez, Thompson; Barkers, Dawson, O’Sullivan; Tomlinson, Hubert, King.
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