1 week Ago By [email protected] (Craig Tucker)
Romaine Graham is set to make a number of changes when Newark & Sherwood visit their Notts Senior Cup final opponents this weekend. The Highwaymen are off to Hucknall in United Counties League Premier Division North on Saturday (3pm). And with the sides meeting in the cup final at Mansfield’s Field Mill ground on May 6, manager Graham doesn’t want to give anything away.
It’s a conversation Hucknall are no doubt having, too. “Part of me is thinking I don’t want to show my hand,” said Graham. “I want to give other lads an opportunity, so I think it will be a different line-up to what you’ll see in the final.
“It’s risk and reward. If you put out your team you want to play in the final and you get absolutely hammered, that’s not ideal. “If I make changes and we win, that’s a bonus and then some of those lads have proven they’re good enough to start and have given me a headache.
“But after making changes, if you don’t win, then Hucknall don’t really gain much from it because they’re not playing your starting XI, for want of a better phrase. “I think there’ll be a fair few changes. I’ve got quite a big squad and some lads who haven’t started for us, who’d I’d like to look at, so at least four or five.
“It’s difficult because we are mid-table but I don’t want to fall into that seeing-the-season-out type of thing. “I am looking for next season as well, so I’ve said to the boys it’s my first season, there’s things I’ve learnt, I’m looking at who I want to take with me. “I’m more looking at a culture than how players have been operating.
“It’s just little things, like if a player’s injured I expect them to be there cheering the lads on. “They’re things I want to clamp down on because I’ve been in dressing rooms where you’re all in it together and the team is the priority, so that’s what I’m going to be looking towards.” A second-half penalty saw Newark & Sherwood edged 1-0 at home by title-chasing Eastwood last Saturday.
The sides met again a week on from the Highwaymen’s stunning 4-1 comeback victory in the away fixture. Graham felt his side could have done the double over his former club, with good chances falling to Kieran Cummings and Toby White. “If we’d won, we’d have been well worth it,” he said.
“They came and did a job on us, got a penalty and that was the only test for our keeper. “We had a few clear-cut chances, a couple KC’s got to score, and Toby’s gone through as well. “If you’d given me three points from two games against them I’d have snapped your hand off but after beating them at their place, I definitely think they were fearful of what we could do to them and we just didn’t seize that opportunity.
“We set up in the same way, and allowed them to have the ball, but I think we might have shown them a bit too much respect. “After the first 10 minutes I could gauge they were wary of what we could do to them, so they weren’t as expansive, they didn’t leave as much space in behind, and they didn’t commit as many players forward, so it was a bit of stalemate. “It was always going to be a game of few chances so in terms of the game plan there’s not much I can do.
“If KC’s through on goal, you expect him to score, you bank on that. “It was a free hit and I guess it’s where we are as a team at the minute. “For me, I was quite disappointed with the defeat but I don’t know if it hurt the lads as much and that was probably because they weren’t expected to win.
“I said to them, I’ve got so much belief in you lot, I’ve just got to get you to realise it yourself because we had more than enough to turn them over.”.
