Pickering Town chief to get tough (From Gazette & Herald)

Pickering Town chief Jimmy Reid to get tough

11:17am Friday 17th August 2012 in Sport By Steve Carroll, Sports reporter

JIMMY REID will wield the axe when Pickering Town travel to Arnold Town tomorrow – as he seeks more fight and determination from his side.

The Pikes boss plans to make a number of changes to his ailing outfit after the Northern Counties East League premier division side suffered another defeat when crashing out of the FA Cup in disappointing fashion earlier this week.

Liam Salt and Steve Baxter goals gave Pickering a 2-1 lead over Jarrow Roofing Boldon CA with less than 15 minutes remaining at the Recreation Ground, but they conceded three late goals to go down 4-2 – a collapse which cost the club £1,000.

Having lost their first two NCEL encounters as well, a fed-up Reid – disappointed that his team were out-muscled and out-battled – is planning to ring the changes for Arnold, who have won both their league games so far this season.

“We need some more players, I can’t go on like this,” he said, referring to the pre-season departures of former skipper Tom Adams and Joel Ramm and the subsequent loss of Matty Turnbull, who has gone to Australia.

“I would rather play the under-19s, you can educate them. Whether it is U6s, U12 or U19s, you need to fight your corner – no matter what sport you play. We have too many nice men. You don’t get anything given to you. They need to get this into their mentality.”

On Arnold, he added: “These are all tough games when you have no points. Somehow, we are going to have to galvanise ourselves, make a few changes, and get three points and get a bit extra out of a couple of players.”

Tadcaster Albion chief Paul Marshall is planning to raid the transfer market as he hunts a goalscorer.

The Brewers’ boss returned from holiday to see his charges continue their good start to the season – they are two from two in the NCEL premier – with a 3-2 win at Consett after extra-time in the FA Cup extra preliminary round.

A free-kick from Steve Jeff, two minutes into extra time, his second successful set-piece of the game, gave Albion the victory and, in sharp contrast to Reid, Marshall was delighted with the spirit shown by his side.

He said: “There was unbelievable character shown. It’s always a tough place to go. It was great for the lads and tremendous. We play Brighouse in the league tomorrow and they have a young manager in Paul Quinn, who is a coach with a bit of enthusiasm and has got them playing decent football.

“A lot of hard work has been put into their little ground and it is a tough place to go. What I have to do now is try to keep improving the squad as the season goes on. This is the ideal time to pick up a few players from the Evo-Stik League and so on who are not getting a game. We need a scorer like everyone else does.”

Marshall is hoping to land a coup by signing 18-year-old Bradford City youth team player Louie Swain in time for the Brighouse game. “We’ve got a good rapport with Phil Parkinson, the Bradford manager, and Louie is quick, strong and scores goals. He’ll hopefully come in tomorrow.”

Tadcaster will be missing Stuart Rice, Tom Owen and Jamie Williamson, who has suffered a recurrence of a niggling ankle injury and will require a scan.

Elsewhere in non-League, Selby Town entertain Louth in NCEL division one, while Harrogate Town kick off their Blue Square Bet North campaign with a trip to Hinckley Athletic. Neighbours Harrogate Railway host New Mills as the Evo-Stik League division one north season gets under way.