Buoyant Drayton seek home comforts

For successive games at Greenfields – against Mossley on Saturday and Colne the week after – now present manager Martyn Davies and his men the chance to rekindle support that was inevitably stunted by their early exit from three cups.

Like Atherton, third placed Mossley will be good, tough and determined. But maximum points, repeated against Colne, offer the prospect of Town being propelled into the division’s top six.

Heady, all-but unheard of heights for Town, especially at this stage of the season. But if achieved, surely bound to invigorate interest and enthusiasm on the terraces.

Davies believes recent results throughout Drayton’s western section of the competition will help. “This division’s becoming a lottery,” he says. “We’re getting all sorts of results you would not expect.

“It’s potentially wide open; anyone can beat anyone - and that’s got to be good for everyone.”

His more immediate, and crucial, question is who gets a shirt against high-flying Mossley?

Saturday’s win was made all the more remarkable by the fact that Town entered the Colls cauldron at Skuna Stadium with only 12 fit players, leaving behind a third of their squad ill, injured or unavailable.

With Harvey Howell suspended for being sent off against Leek Town, changes in attack are inevitable. Charlie Knowles and/or Matt Ballard are likely candidates and Dan Beddows, Lyndon Campbell and Tyrell McFarlane, who also missed the Atherton trip, could be back in the mix.

Davies said: “A lot of the lads are carrying injuries, niggles and knocks. We’ll have to see how things shape up in midweek training and go from there.”

Home fans will be hoping for a glimpse of the sort of stunning late goal Will Wells triggered to win Saturday’s game. Gaining possession on the left, he ghosted inside a would-be tackler and unleashed a 20-plus yards thunderbolt into the top far corner.

Town had first stunned the charteristically partisan Collieries crowd by grabbing the game’s opener on the hour, Simon Gregory forcing the ball home after keeper Dale Latham had only managed to parry Paul McMullen’s flying header from a corner.

Seven minutes later Jordan Cover, having hit a post and missed more than most early on, equalised with a finely judged low shot across outstanding Town keeper Ash Rawlins.

The stage was set for a rip-roaring home assault on the Town goal. It came, true enough but Drayton, who had already grafted grittily through an intimidating first half, held out for Wells to snatch victory with five minutes left.

Second in the table, having won all five league games since August, Atherton were hot favourites to storm home again – and Town manager Martyn Davies freely acknowledged: “I thought we would be doing very, very well to get a point there.”

He went on: “On another day we could have been out of if by half time. They are a good side, good passers of the ball and they used the big slope, which runs the length of their ground, really well.

“They had two, three perhaps four really good chances that you’d expect to go in and several other half chances. Ash Rawlins made some fine saves, they missed some and the lads blocked others; getting a foot or a head in, putting their bodies on the line.

“It wasn’t pretty but it showed great character – and it got even better after the break. We still had to dig in but we were also able to start getting forward ourselves, make chances and ultimately nick what was a great result.”