FRANK: NO INJURY WORRIES

I spoke to Frank Gray this morning for an update prior to tomorrow evening?s game at Altrincham.

I asked Frank first about Saturday?s draw with Crawley Town. ?Crawley started well?, said Frank. ?We gave them a bit too much space. Their goal came when Matt Pattison lost possession in midfield and our defence lost shape. Our equaliser came after a good passage of play, with us getting plenty of balls into the box, and came at a good time for us. In the second half we squeezed them higher up the pitch and played well. We were unlucky to have what I thought was a perfectly good goal disallowed. Jason Norville was certainly not offside and Marvin Morgan wasn?t interfering with play, so I don?t see why it was disallowed. But these things happen. You can imagine what the reaction would have been, though, if it had happened the other way round!?

I asked Frank how he thought that the decision to play Gez Sole rather than Adam Green had gone. ?I thought it went OK. For that particular game, at home, I wanted to increase our attacking options?, he said.

I asked Frank for his comments on Steve Evans?s outbursts. Frank said that he didn?t really wish to comment other than to point out that it is hard to see how the referee could be accused of bias in our favour when he disallowed a goal and booked five Woking players compared with two Crawley players. He confirmed that he had gone into the referee?s dressing room at half-time to ask him about a couple of decisions. He explained that this is perfectly normal and that it would have been open to Steve Evans to do the same rather than going on the pitch.

Frank thought that several of the bookings were harsh but agreed that there was some indiscipline too and said that he had spoken to the players concerned. Frank confirmed that the bookings for Tom Hutchinson and Bradley Quamina mean that both will be unavailable for the home game against Forest Green Rovers on Monday evening in the Setanta Shield.

Frank confirmed that there had been no further movement in the transfer window and said that he wasn't expecting anything to happen before it closed.

There is good news on the injury front, with Matt Ruby passed fit to play and no one on the treatment table, so Frank has the full squad to choose from for tomorrow night?s trip to Altrincham. Frank is expecting it to be a tough encounter. ?Altrincham have had some better results recently and only lost narrowly at Cambridge?, Frank said. ?They are fighting hard to escape relegation and will be very determined to grab the points. We need to try to put them on the back foot.?

Brian Caffarey
30 January 2008