Manager making most of enforced break

2:00pm Friday 9th January 2009

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CRADLEY Town boss Marcus McDonald is using an enforced period of inactivity to target more players as his team face a New Year backlog of fixtures.

McDonald was meeting with a young right back and former England under 18 international who has been released by Walsall and is also keeping tabs on former Bromsgrove keeper Karl Lewis, who is currently at Stratford.

He has also signed defender Carl Martin from Causeway but he will have to wait to make his debut until the big freeze recedes.

Town’s Walsall Senior Cup game at home to Boldmere Town last night (Wednesday) fell victim to the weather, as did recent league fixtures at Studley and at home to Shifnal.

They have been helped by the withdrawal of JW Hunt Cup opponents Warley Development from the competition, meaning they have a bye to the next round, but McDonald said he still expected to be playing two games a week in the coming months.

He said: “As well as the cups, we have a game to rearrange at Coalville, but to be fair we have a sizeable squad, though if I can add a couple more faces to it, it will help.

One problem McDonald has is the imminent suspension of star forward Marlon Walters who is out for two league games after picking up ten bookings, but he also faces another ban after being sent off in the Boxing Day clash with Causeway United.

McDonald admitted the players at the club who have come down from a higher level were having some problems with referees in the Midland Alliance and players who made them targets, but he would do all he could to help them, He said: “Players like Marlon, Tom Warmer and Liam McDonald have got into more trouble than we would like and picked up some petty bookings, partly because they find they can’t talk to referees at this level.

“But Marcus for example has come to terms with it and stayed out of trouble recently and Marlon has to do the same. We as a club believe in standing by our players and helping them through the problems they might have in any way we can, where at some other clubs they might not necessarily get that support.”

Cradley are due to travel to Barwell on Saturday (3pm) but at the moment have no scheduled midweek game.

Forward Henry Goh will be available if the games go ahead, after returning from a spell playing in America.