STEVE Pope faces another nervous afternoon on the sidelines tomorrow when his Bromsgrove Rovers side entertain struggling Cinderford Town (3pm).

Rovers' caretaker manager admitted to jangling nerves when injury kept him out of Monday's 0-0 draw at Halesowen but suspension rules him out this time.

"Monday was the first time I've stood on the sidelines and I was an absolute nervous wreck," he said. "As a player I never get nervous but watching was completely different."

Five defeats in the last seven Dr Martens Western Division matches have effectively killed Rovers' hopes of one-step promotion with a top seven spot while even eighth place is virtually out of reach.

Pope admits their hopes are hanging by a thread. "There's a slim hope but we'll have to see how other results go which shouldn't be the case because we've played some great stuff. How we didn't beat Halesowen I'll never know.

"The problem all along has been scoring goals from open play. Paul Szewczyk has got something like 20 but I'm the next top scorer with 10 and I'm a centre half. It shouldn't be like that."

Andy Sinton is set to return after missing Monday's trip to The Grove.