PERSHORE Town will welcome back striker Pavel Tomczak to fill the goalscoring boots of Jamie Clarke.
With Clarke, last season’s top scorer and having hit five in five this term, heading to the US, manager Quentin Townsend had made finding an additional forward his priority and the familiar face of Tomczak will line up on Saturday when Pershore visit Leicester Road.
Tomczak, a former Coventry Sphinx and Solihull Moors forward, had played under Townsend at Southam United and then followed him to Pershore towards the back end of the 2015/16 season, netting half a dozen goals in as many games.
Since then, he has playing for Birmingham Tigers in the national futsal competition.
“I know from marking him in training that Pavel is a real nightmare for defenders,” said Townsend.
“He’s 6ft 4in, hard to knock off the ball, but he’s also technically so good with is why he is such a good futsal player.
“Hopefully he will come and fill the void left by Clarkey. If you give him a chance, he will score. Hopefully, his presence will also help Michael Wright up front.”
Wright had hit the bar early on in Monday’s Midland League Division One trip to neighbours Littleton but the Ton Boys grew stronger and emerged 2-0 victors, much to Townsend’s frustration.
“I felt there was a lack of heart and fighting spirit which was the biggest disappointment,” said the manager.
“We had too many players having an off day. When you have one or two players not performing you can cope, but not half a team.”
Townsend sees the next few weeks as a crucial chance to build on the tactics and fitness on the training pitch.
A run of midweek matches has meant Pershore have not trained as a group since the final pre-season friendly so Townsend is relishing the chance to work in their training sessions.
“We haven’t got a midweek game now for a few weeks,” he added. “The sooner we can get on the training field and work on a few things together, the better.”
