Shipston ready for top-of-the-table test

FOOTBALL

SHIPSTON Excelsior will welcome back Ed Caswell and Craig Robbins tomorrow as they bid to become the first team to take points off runaway Midland League Division Three leaders GNP Sports.

The Coventry side have rattled up a perfect ten wins out of ten fixtures in their debut season in the Midland League.

But Shipston have climbed to third place and manager Steve Hedderman says his side will relish the chance to line up against the title favourites.

Caswell, who has been away for a month, and Robbins, unavailable last weekend in the win against Coventrians, are back in contention, though Shipston will have to rule out midfield dynamo Joe Godson through suspension.

“The players’ attitude has made the difference in the last few weeks and I’m sure they will look forward to tackling the league leaders. We’ll be positive,” said Hedderman.

“It’s a tough test but it’s as tough as we make it. We will need to play well but we’re capable of doing that. Last season we played the top teams – Montpellier, NKF Burbage and Moors Academy and we didn’t look out of place.

“We’ve beaten ourselves too often this season, rather than team beating us. But in the last few matches we showed some real inner steel and a bit more spirit.”