City looking to heap pressure on rivals (From Worcester News)

City looking to heap pressure on rivals

6:40pm Thursday 18th March 2010 in

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MANAGER Carl Heeley believes tomorrow’s match against St Albans is the perfect opportunity for Worcester City to pile more pressure on their relegation rivals.

City go into the St George’s Lane match on Saturday (3pm) seven points ahead of third-bottom Lewes although the Rooks have two games in hand.

They are also looking to close the gap on Hampton and Richmond and Bishop’s Stortford as they bid to retain their Blue Square South status.

Victory against St Albans would further aid that quest, while Lewes are away at Bishop’s Stortford and have yet to win on the road this term.

City failed to capitalise on defeats for the teams around them last Saturday by losing 2-0 at Bromley and Heeley is determined not to let that happen again.

“When teams are struggling at the bottom, a couple of good wins gives you some daylight and that was the disappointing thing from last weekend,” he said.

“Although nobody picked up points around us, if we had looked after ourselves and won our game it would have been a massive step in the right direction.

“I keep trying to stress to the players that it’s important we take points from games we target as winnable.

“Although St Albans are having a great season, possibly a lot better than they thought they would, realistically, it’s a game we should be looking to pick points up from — especially at home.”

City are looking to secure a seventh win at home this term against a St Albans side that has risen to 10th on the back of four straight victories.

But City will have to do it without striker Rob Elvins or left-back Shabir Khan as the pair serve their respective four-match suspensions.

Elvins starts his ban tomorrow, while Shabir has two games left to sit out having already missed the trips to Dover and Bromley.

Heeley said: “It does make the job a lot more difficult but it’s done now and we have got to get through it.

“St Albans’ current form is very good but we are scrapping for our lives and I expect us to be competing all over the park.”

Worcester, though, are set to be boosted by the return of player-assistant boss Mark Clyde in the back four.

The former Wolves man has been out of action since being replaced during the 3-3 draw at Lewes last month but trained on Monday and is ready to line-up alongside Wayne Daniel.

Striker Marc McGregor is also set to feature having recovered from the illness which kept him out of last Saturday’s defeat at Bromley.

New midfield signing Jason Pike could also be involved after his move from Bridgnorth Town.

However, captain Tom Kemp (shoulder) and midfielder Matt Birley (knee) are expected to miss out.