Match sponsored by Terra Firma
Russ O’Neill can’t wait for The Lions to return to Nethermoor on Boxing Day as top of the league Bradford (Park Avenue) make the trip to LS20 with kick-off at 3pm.
There has been a real lack of match action of late for The Lions with three blank Saturdays ahead of the trip to Nuneaton where we ran out 3-1 winners thanks to two goals from Rowan Liburd and a strike from Kaine Felix.
This followed swiftly on from the 2-0 win at Harrogate Town in the West Riding County Cup on Monday night with the last home league game well over a month ago when Spennymoor held us to a 1-1 draw on 17th November.
Exits in the Emirates FA Cup to Fleetwood Town and Buildbase FA Trophy to Lancaster City in November mean Marcus Bignot and Russ O’Neill can now fully focus on rising up the Vanarama National League North table.
With BPA eliminated in both the Emirates FA Cup and Buildbase FA Trophy at the first hurdles all their attention has been on the league calendar.
They have not tasted defeat in the Vanarama National League North since 13th October with their last away league defeat coming on 8th September at Chester.
Avenue returned to top spot on Saturday with a 1-0 win over Hereford at The Horsfall.
It will be the first time Mark Bower and Danny Boshell return to the dugouts at Nethermoor since they departed two years ago, they bring several former Lions including Steven Drench, Shane Killock, Danny East, Ryan Toulson, Connor Branson, Danny Lowe, Nicky Clee and Oli Johnson with them.
Russ O’Neill was delighted with the performance at Nuneaton Borough on Saturday “In the circumstances surrounding Nuneaton, it was an emotional day for us. We knew we had to be at our best and we have worked all week on our mentality and phsyicality.”
Speaking of the opening goal which came after 34 seconds the Joint Manager said “We started like a train to be fair, we went in front but fair play to Nuneaton they have showed a lot of fighting spirit to come back into the game, I am really happy with the three points.”
“Rowan gets the plaudits for the goal but you look at the pressing and work rate in the lead up to that goal it has forced the mistake and Rowan is in to do what he does well by running in behind them and finishing it off. It’s not just Rowan Liburd it is a team effort to put us on the front foot early on.”
Speaking about the preparations in the run up to the game O’Neill said “We spoke all week about starting well, we said the same message at half-time and we started really well again.”
When asked about the performance Russ enthused “I think they were all marvellous again, we have defended well at the back, the midfield play especially with pitch digging up as it went on. From back to front all the way through it was a well deserved win.”
Looking ahead to Boxing Day O’Neill said “With it being a local derby there is an extra spice to it too with the supporters, they are going really well, it will be a tough game.”
“We’re just trying to concentrate on finding a mentality to go with the ability, we are really looking forward to it.”
