Commoners play the squad game

The Commoners will be without several players for the trip to Saltdean United in Macron Store Southern Combination Football League Division One.

Sam Brown and Billy Trickett are away, Ricky Mote is injured, and Common may well also be missing Steve Morris and Steve Mote.

“The depth of the squad is quite good so it’s an opportunity for whoever pulls on the shirt to stake their claim for the next game,” said Common player-manager Russell Eldridge. “When everyone’s available, we’ve got 20 strong players, maybe even more.

“It would be nice to have a full squad available for a game at some point, but I’ve got no problem with any player I pick, and I think that’s a great feature of the club and the group of players we have.”

Common have done pretty well so far this season on occasions when they’ve had several players missing, the Parafix Sussex Senior Challenge Cup wins over Seaford Town and Oakwood being a couple that spring to mind.

The Commoners find themselves in 10th place after an inconsistent league campaign so far and could really do with a victory against a Saltdean side which is four points adrift at the foot of the table.

Saltdean have lost their last five games in all competitions, conceding 21 goals and scoring just two.

Common were 1-0 winners in September’s reverse fixture and have lost only one of their last six contests. That form also helped them clinch the division’s team of the month award for November.

“It’s not a must-win game, but to finish as high up the table as we want to, we’ve got to target wins in every game,” continued Eldridge.

“It’s all about our focus and attitude towards the game, and if we get those things right, hopefully we should come back with three points.”

Having been fixtureless last weekend and had cup games postponed for the last two Tuesdays, Common haven’t played since their 3-2 defeat at home to leaders Crawley Down Gatwick a fortnight ago.

“I don’t have any concerns over the group in terms of their fitness,” added Eldridge. “We will have trained twice in the midweeks in between (games) and everyone will be chomping at the bit to try and make amends for our last result as well. We’ll be fresh and I would expect a good response.”

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