CARL Adams believes tomorrow’s home fixture with St Neots Town kicks off a ‘make or break’ spell for Stratford Town.
While today is D-day for Town as they await to learn whether top scorer Richard Gregory will stay at the DCS Stadium after an approach by title-chasing Leamington, Adams says tomorrow’s match with fourth from bottom St Neots is a six-pointer in Town’s push to move away from the danger zone.
Stratford lie two places above the visitors and have two points more and manager Adams says the run-up to Christmas and the holiday games will have a huge bearing on their prospects of continuing to build as a Southern Premier club.
“This is the make-or-break period of the season for us – the next fives games going into the new year are crucial,” said Adams.
“Playing St Neots, with the position both teams are in, is a real six-pointer. We need the points and I’m confident we have got the ability to do so.
“The players are good enough, we’ve been playing well and probably not got the results that our performances have deserved.”
That was the case last weekend when Town were devastated to lose 2-1 at Banbury United after conceding an injury-time goal.
In the clubs’ first league meeting for 50 years, Town led just before the hour through Ben Stephens’ first goal for the club as he converted Edwin Ahenkorah’s cross.
But a Guy Clark own goal, deflecting a low cross, made it 1-1 on 78 minutes and then Callum White’s hopeful cross two minutes into stoppage time eluded Niall Cooper and dropped into the net.
Town, though, bounced back on Monday with a 2-0 home win against Coventry City to book a place in the quarter-finals of the Birmingham Senior Cup.
It was their first victory in seven matches as Ahenkorah slotted home from Dan Summerfield’s cross on 29 minutes and Gregory netted a second on 51 minutes, turning past his marker after collecting Charlie Faulkner’s pass and scoring his 12th goal of the season.
Leamington can officially follow up their seven-day approach for Gregory today (Friday) and Adams expects a decision from the forward in the next 24 hours.
“I’ve told Richard I want him to say but the decision will be his,” said Adams.
