After three weeks without match action, the Peacocks will finally hope to recommence their Evo-Stik League fixtures when they travel to Salisbury tomorrow afternoon (17th March), kick-off 3.00pm.
And they could hardly have wished for a tougher assignment with which to return to duty. Two strikes from Matt Buse plus further goals from Dan Sullivan and Matt Wright steered Town to a dominant 4-1 win at the Viridor Stadium back in December, a result which has sparked Salisbury into a sequence of 11 league wins from the following 13 games since, with defeats coming at Didcot last month and a single goal reverse at home to Barnstaple. This run of form has seen the Whites pull clear in second place, ten points ahead of third placed Evesham who they beat 2-1 last weekend. Salisbury therefore have had at least 90 minutes game time in the past three weather-impacted weeks whereas Town have not taken to the pitch since stuttering to a 1-1 draw at North Leigh on the 24th February. Despite not playing though, the Peacocks still sit comfortably clear at the summit of the table, eight points clear of tomorrow’s hosts and with a game in hand, so a positive result will constitute another big step towards their promotion ambitions.
The enforced break has at least allowed two of Town’s injured players to recover, with Pierce Mitchell and Keith Emmerson both in tomorrow’s squad along with recent signing Nuno Felix. Exeter City loanee Joel Randall is the only absentee who was injured training with his parent club.
Manager Leigh Robinson commented: “First v second tomorrow which obviously brings an excitement of its own but having not kicked a ball in anger for three weeks I think our lads would be over the moon to play any game of football right now. Obviously it’s impossible to tell whether we’ll come out very fresh or very rusty from this enforced break but I’m sure the adrenaline will kick in for such a big game.”