LES JONES admits he is excited to see the goal threat Pershore Town now possess after powerhouse forward Charlie Anagho-Ntamark pulled on the blue and white kit once more.
One-time Aston Villa youth prospect Anagho-Ntamark impressed under former manager Quentin Townsend before heading to Canada at the end of the 2018 season.
But, having returned in the summer, the striker finally got international clearance to play for the Plums and marked his first appearance with a goal in Tuesday night’s 3-1 win against Studley in the Worcestershire Senior Cup.
With Nick Seabourne having broken his duck in Saturday’s 3-0 win at Littleton, manager Jones believes Pershore have the goal threat to worry any defence in the West Midlands League Premier Division.
“Charlie has been training with us since the summer and played in a few pre-season games but we’ve had to wait five weeks to get Charlie’s international clearance and he played very well,” said Jones.
“Nick got off the mark last weekend and Sam Clark has scored in the last two games, despite the fact he has been playing at centre-back to cover for Shaun Griffiths.
“With James Baldwin, Zaq Hussain, Matt Pinder, Nick and Charlie we’ve got some players who will test any defence. It’s exciting to think what they can do.”
Seabourne, who bagged a goal a game last season, notched his first strikes of 2019/20 to help defeat Littleton at Five Acres.
He opened the scoring on ten minutes before Clark converted a Pinder cross for 2-0 before half-time. Seabourne then secured the points after pouncing on a defensive blunder ten minutes from time.
In Tuesday’s county cup first round tie, Clark fired Pershore ahead just past the half-hour mark when he converted from close range after Seabourne hit the Studley bar.
Jake Cavens doubled the lead on 56 minutes and, although Dan Carter replied eight minutes later for the Bees, Anagho-Ntamark snuffed out any comeback hopes eight minutes from time.
Having claimed successive wins against Worcestershire rivals, Pershore seek a hat-trick on Saturday when they face a first ever league game with Worcester Raiders. Although Raiders, promoted last season, are the ‘home’ side, the fixture will be played at the Community Stadium because work to revamp Raiders’ Claines Lane ground is continuing.
Worcester, however, have had a hugely encouraging start to life in the Premier Division and they sit in third spot, five points ahead of ninth-placed Pershore.
Skipper Griffiths will face a fitness check as he recovers from concussion. Steve Webb missed the Studley game with a knock but Jones is optimistic Tom Harding, Ben Lane and Matt Gwynne could be in contention.
“We’re starting to convert the chances we had been missing in the games earlier in the season. Saturday is all set up to be a good blood and thunder derby,” added Jones.