Kidsgrove boss upbeat despite cup loss

Kidsgrove Athletic manager Peter Ward remained positive despite seeing his side crash out of the Presidents Cup last night (Oct 25).

Athletic lost 2-0 to Sutton Coldfield Town but Ward said he would rather concentrate on the league.

Kidsgrove Athletic via club website

He said: “We rested seven of the lads because I feel we should be concentrating more on the league than all the cups.

“I use these games to give some of the other lads a game and have a look at them.

“We have a number of lads out at the moment so we need to get them fit for the league games.”

Athletic (4^th) travel to Lincoln United (16^th) but Ward will be hampered with a number of injuries for the match.

Danny Smith (calf), Tom Urwin (achilles), Danny Schwartz (hamstring) and Nick Ward (knee) will all be out of contention for Saturday’s clash.

Kick-off is 3.00pm.

Newcastle Town boss ‘proud’ of players despite FA Cup exit

Newcastle Town boss Greg Clowes has praised his players despite their 1-0 defeat to Vauxhall Motors in the FA Cup Final Qualifying Round.

Motors, who are 34 places above Newcastle, were made spectators as Newcastle dominated lengthy spells of the match, with Jordan Johnson and Alan Nagington squandering chances.

The Liverpool-based side made Newcastle pay and scored through David Mannix’s close range effort at the back post.

Clowes said: “I am very proud of the lads and they did superbly well.

“We put in a good performance and we were the better team but we couldn’t find the back of the net.

“It is disappointing but the lads did not themselves down”.

Newcastle face Trafford in the Presidents Cup tomorrow (Oct 26) night and face Brigg Town on Saturday (Oct 30).

Clowes revealed he will be resting some of his side for Saturday’s league match.

“We want some of the lads fresh for Saturday so 5 or 6 will miss the match against Trafford so they have a full week of rest.”