We’ve made to wait an extra 10 days but the opening home fixture of the new campaign is upon us as promotion favourites Barrow make their way to the Midlands.
There are few fond memories of Barrow, last season’s fixtures resulting in an awkward 2-1 defeat at their Holker Street ground before the excitement Community Celebration Day was dampened by a 4-2 home loss in April.
Barrow are an uncompromising outfit, a side that will continually force the ball back towards the opposition defence, aggressively hunt down second balls and dominate aerially. Getting their first win of the season over Woking will have done their confidence a world of good.
It means McDonald is going to need the kind of performance that doesn’t appear to be forthcoming at this moment in time.
Firstly, the Moors need to simply start doing the basics right. We need to mark our men at set-pieces, defensively we have to organise and avoid leaving men free all over the place. We have to shut down crosses and also show a bit of composure on the ball – too often against Leyton Orient we resorted to launching the ball forward in hope of something happening rather than getting on the ball and playing.
Of course, it sounds far more simple typing the words in than actually doing it on the pitch. It’s been a steep learning curve for the new boys but they have to learn quickly – Tuesday will be a real eye-opener.
Vital Quotes:
Solihull Moors boss Liam McDonald discusses Boreham Wood, key players and home comforts:
“I said to the players I don’t know why we’re doing that because we’re not a team that can do that. Every week, if we haven’t worked harder than the opposition, we won’t win. It’s never an excuse, they all knew what they were coming into, we’re in a full-time league and we’re a part-time team. Even Boreham Wood do three days and we’re in for four hours a week. It is what it is, we know that and I just think we’ve let ourselves down.
“We’ll get better. We need our big players back and we need them back quickly. I said, with them being out, this is an opportunity for these lads to go and keep the shirt, go and cement their place in the side. At the moment I’m just waiting for them to come back to make us stronger and it’s disappointing because we’ve got a good squad.
“It’s just disappointing, that’s two games now but we’ll go Tuesday. At least we’ll have our home comforts and our crowd behind us so it will give us an opportunity.”
Solihull Moors Team News:
Recent Moors loan signing Tahvon Campbell is expected to be in the squad for the first time having missed out at the weekend due to a knock. Kristian Green, Simeon Maye, Jermaine Hylton, Ashley Sammons, Chris Lait and Calum Flanagan will all be missing once again through injury.
Player to watch: Connal Trueman
His early Moors career has been spent mostly picking the ball from his net but Connal Trueman has shown himself to be a decent shot stopper so far, his save from Ricky Shakes on Saturday the most prominent show of his ability. Stepping into men’s football, the domination of his area could be a key factor on Tuesday night.
Barrow Team News:
New signing Adi Yussuf will face a fitness test after coming off injured against Woking. Andy Parry, Joel Dixon, David Fitzpatrick and last season’s top scorer Byron Harrison are all out.
Player to watch: Jordan White
Jordan White is the archetypal Paul Cox signing for Barrow, a striker of considerable height and power who will suit their ‘effective’ style of play. He scored twice on Saturday as The Bluebirds recorded their first win of the season and will expect to do more damage on Tuesday.
Match Facts & Stats
SOLIHULL MOORS – 24th
Overall record: Played 2; Won 0, Drawn 0, Lost 2; For 2, Against 7, GD -5; Points 0
Most goals: Oladapo Afolayan, Fiarce Kelleher – 1
Worst discipline: Jack Edwards – 2 yellow cards
Barrow – 12th
Overall record: Played 3; Won 1, Drawn 1, Lost 1; For 4, Against 2, GD +2; Points 4
Most goals: Jordan White – 2
Worst discipline: Bedsente Gomis – 2 yellow cards
Ref Watch:
Referee: Christopher Pollard
Location: Suffolk
National League matches officiated 17/18: 1
Yellow cards produced: 2
Red cards produced: 0
Penalties awarded: 0
Last time in charge of Solihull Moors: N/A
Assistant referees: Robert Evans and Robin Cox
Fourth official: Edward Turner
Match Prediction:
SOLIHULL MOORS 2-2 Barrow
Next Fixtures:
19/08/2017 – FC Halifax Town (H) – 15:00
26/08/2017 – Torquay United (A) – 15:00
28/08/2017 – Tranmere Rovers (H) – 15:00
02/09/2017 – Aldershot Town (A) – 15:00
09/09/2017 – Macclesfield Town (H) – 15:00
12/09/2017 – Woking (A) – 19:45
