Mike Cook’s Gloucester City look to continue their winning run as they welcome 21st placed King’s Lynn Town to the TigerTurf Stadium.
Gloucester City, who have won their previous two fixtures, face King’s Lynn Town this afternoon as City’s fight for survival continues.
Last time out, City beat bottom of the table Bishop’s Stortford 4-1 away from home, with Tommy Rowe, Theo Robinson, Danny Wright and Ben Beresford finding the net.
The Tigers’ will have the difficult task of trying to replace Harry Emmett in the line-up, who is confirmed to be out for six weeks with a broken collarbone. Emmett, a left-midfielder who can also play left-back, has been labelled by manager Mike Cook as “a player who has the potential to reach the football league.”
Cook will continue to have a difficult time trying to sort out his defence this weekend. Ty Duffus, Jamie Reckord and Ben Richards-Everton are all out injured. Captain Spencer Hamilton took a blow to his head last weekend but managed to carry on despite not being fully fit before the match. Max Ram and Bristol City loanee Harry Leeson are the only fully-fit defenders at the club.
There is potential home-debuts on the line for loanee’s Finn O’Boyle, Jack Tolley and Jack Dennis, the latter joining on deadline day from Cardiff City to replace the departing goalkeeper Zach Jeacock. O’Boyle and Tolley were both named on the bench at Bishop’s Stortford, with Tolley making a substitute appearance towards the end of the match.
King’s Lynn come in to this fixture in poor form over the last few months. They have won only one match of their last 12, which was a 4-0 away win over Southport at The Big Help Stadium.
Town’s last fixture should provide them with some confidence going into the tie with Gloucester City. They played out an impressive 0-0 draw against fourth placed side Chester City at home last weekend.
‘The Linnets’ face the task of replacing a midfielder of their own, in George Morrison. Morrison chipped in with two goals and one assist in his loan spell at The Walks Stadium, featuring 19 times before returning to Fleetwood Town at the end of January.
Despite, like Gloucester City, struggling at the wrong end of the National League North, King’s Lynn’s squad has plenty of EFL experience. Goalkeeper Paul Jones, as well defender Greg Taylor and midfielder Josh Coulson have a combined over 600 EFL appearances, with all appareances coming in League One and League Two.
Last time these two sides met, they played out a 1-1 draw at The Walks Stadium. Elliott Durrell opened the scoring for Gloucester City after 71 minutes, with Ben Stephens equalising in the ninth minute of added time in the second half.
The aforementioned Durrell, as well as Town’s 37-year-old goalkeeper Paul Jones, were both named in the National League North’s team of the week for the most recent round of fixtures.
Both sides will have one eye on Southport’s fixture away at Boston United this afternoon. City sit four points off 20th placed Southport, having played two games extra. King’s Lynn sit three points from safety, but have played three games more than Southport.
