FOLLOWING THE SALTMEN

It’s nearly here. That time of the year again, when a bearded man in a red suit clambers down Noddy’s chimney with a sackful of cash to top up the Holder pension plan for another twelve months. But it’s not just ageing Black Country troubadours getting presents. No. All of us in Saltmen Nation have had an early seasonal gift in the form of Joe Stockton, goalkeeper, who is dual registered with Worcester City. Joe has arrived at Kingys riding in on a one horse open sleigh as relief for the injured Dom Rogerson who can now nurse the broken elbow he played the whole 90 minutes with at Abbey Hulton last weekend.

Dom has played really well throughout the season and is probably the most improved player of the season. His miraculous save at Ashby Ivanhoe will last long in my memory. Hopefully he will make a full and early recovery and be challenging to regain his place very soon.

This Saturday sees Spa welcome the Daffodils of Newent Town to Kingys. Back on the 3rd August, the Dafs played host to Spa’s first outing in the Hellenic League. The match was played in 30 degree heat and, after a closely contested first half, Spa scored 4 unanswered goals in the second period. The game finished 6-2 in favour of the Saltmen, with Alex Dugmore helping himself to 4 goals.

Since that August afternoon, Newent have seen wholesale changes to both the coaching staff and players. A number of new faces were drafted in, including a genuine international and, of late, results appear to be improving.

Saturday’s game will not be a picnic for Spa. I expect the Dafs will pose a much bigger threat on Saturday than they did in late summer.

This is the last home game of 2024, so let’s see the year out in style by cheering on the Saltmen as they look to return to winning ways.

See you there.

Cheers

Steve