Hednesford Town make a rapid return to league action this afternoon with a difficult trip to take on high flying Nuneaton Borough in another Southern League Central Premier division encounter.
The Pitmen start a new era with experienced ex-football league professionals Leroy Lita and Martin Riley taking the team into the game after the resignation of Keenen Meakin-Richards and his management team on Saturday evening. The 1-2 home loss to Bedford Town had left the Pitmen second bottom of the embryonic league table and without a win in their first five league matches.
Nuneaton Borough struggled in the league last season and it looked at one point as though they may have got relegated but they ended the season in 16th place. This season has been a completely different story so far with four wins out of five leaving them second place in the table just a point behind leaders Coalville Town. Nuneaton lost their first game 3-2 away at Leiston in a match that contained four penalties and three red cards, but since then have reeled off 3-1 home wins against Royston Town and Barwell, and away wins against Basford United (4-0) and Redditch United (2-1). Their last game was on Saturday against Redditch and two goals in the last ten minutes earned them the three points. The 14 goals they have already scored this season have been scored by ten different players.
Nuneaton have retained a number of players from last season in goalkeeper Tony Breeden, centre back and captain Scott McManus, defenders Joe Magunda, Jaden Charles and Chukwuemeka Beejer, midfielders Charlie Dowd, Revarnelle James, Cameron McWilliams, Aaron Forde and Shaquille Master, and striker Luke Benbow. Leaving the club since the end of last season are top scorer Anthony Dwyer (Basford), Chris Clements (Stafford), Greg Kaziboni (St Ives), Louis Baker (AFC Telford) and Damien McCrory (Grantham).
The club have also signed some excellent players to add to an experienced squad and incomings over the summer are goalkeeper Liam Castle (Barwell), defenders Chris Cox and Lathaniel Rowe-Turner (Stourbridge), midfielders Ryan Beswick (Tamworth), Prince Mancinelli (Belper), Cain Noble (Shepshed) and Louis Malandjou (Stafford) and strikers Tyrell Waite (Tamworth), Matty Stenson (Halifax) and Kane Richards (Basford). Nuneaton are managed by the highly experienced Jimmy Ginnelly. He has been in charge since December 2018 after spending eight years at local and divisional rivals Barwell.
It should certainly be an interesting game this afternoon as Nuneaton look for a fifth straight win and the Pitmen start life under the caretaker management of Leroy Lita and Martin Riley.
Ground address: Nuneaton Borough FC, Liberty Way, Nuneaton, Warwickshire, CV11 6RR
