LES JONES will face a week-to-week wait on the availability of striker Nick Seabourne after accepting goalscoring prowess will be the key to Pershore Town’s relegation fight.
Seabourne bagged both goals last weekend as the Plums earned a 2-2 draw at fellow battlers Dudley Sports in the West Midlands League Premier Division but Coleshill Town remain the former Droitwich Spa and Highgate United striker’s first-call club.
Seabourne is regaining full fitness after injury and the current arrangement suits everybody, although Pershore boss Jones, who had brought the player to the Community Stadium earlier in the season, knows his current availability will be on game-by-game basis.
“With Nick, it’s a week-by-week situation,” said Jones. “But it’s not as though he’s just filling in. He knows the players and he was with us before getting the chance to go to Coleshill at step four. He wants to play at the highest level he can.
“But we’ve also got Matt Pinder, Ryan Pugh and Sam Clark up front.”
Pinder is Pershore’s top scorer with nine goals, while Seabourne has six in seven matches, and Jones says the key to their survival is winning games and the more match-winners they have the better.
On Saturday Pershore have the chance to climb out of the bottom two when they head to Shropshire side Wem Town, the team lying one point above them.
Clark, who was not risked last weekend after picking up a tight calf muscle on duty with Evesham United U18s, should be fit, although there is a doubt over the availability of Pugh due to work commitments.
Jonathan King faces a fitness test, having had to pull out at Dudley Sport in the warm-up with a sore achilles, while Andy Pawson should return. Jamie Smith, who has been out for a month, could also feature after returning to training.
“It’s another game against one of the teams around us,” said Jones. “It’s not a must-win, but it’s must-not-lose. We’ve got to stay in touch with the teams around us.
“The key between now and the end of the season will be scoring goals, getting the wins. Defensively, we’ve been quite miserly but we need to take our opportunities at the other end because we are creating chances.”
Jones, however, felt it was a case of a missed chance last week after they had led Dudley 2-0 at Brierley Hill. Seabourne gave Pershore the half-time lead after converting from a Pugh through ball and then the former added second with a far-post volley early in the second period.
The windy conditions had a growing impact with Dudley levelling via two wind-assisted free-kicks – one flying into the goal for a ‘freak’ strike and another getting a deflection into the net.