HAVERHILL Rovers are calling on everyone in the town to help them to save their season – by offering free admission to everyone for Friday night's relegation six-pointer against Ely City.
Saturday’s 3-1 defeat at Woodbridge Town left Rovers facing an eight-point gap to turn around just to lift themselves off the bottom.
Manager Peter Betts believes the fans can help Haverhill to start winning again, like they did when the Reds beat
Woodbridge at Hamlet Croft in November.
“The gap is eight points again, like it was three or four weeks ago,” said Betts. “The only plus point is we have two games we can win on the spin and that gap will be back down to two points hopefully.
“We have a problem playing away from home, we are not the same team we are at home which is something we need to address quickly.
“A big crowd would just give the players such a lift.
“We’ve done this (free game) once before and got three points and for the players to come out five minutes before kick off and see everyone there can have a massive effect.”
Rovers supporters might finally get to see winger Joey Abbs in a red shirt at Hamlet Croft after the Fulbourn Institute player joined on loan this week.
Abbs signed for Rovers from Mildenhall Town last year and scored in his only appearance at King’s Lynn Reserves, but was controversially transferred back to Town after issues rose surrounding his contract.
The left-sided player was due to feature in the two-game deal at Woodbridge on Saturday but an administrative error meant clearance for him to play wasn’t received in time by the Ridgeons League.
Betts said: “There was an admin error as such, and I didn’t know until 12.30pm and then had to change things around.”
The Rovers boss also explained his decision to drop defender Gareth Thomas from his squad.
Thomas has been a regular at the back this season, but Betts left the 24-year-old out to challenge him to improve his performances. Betts said: “Gareth needs to get back to basics, get his desire and hunger back and do things properly in the reserves, because he was poor by his standards last week.”
n Check out our website, www.haverhillecho.com, for the latest Rovers news and views, including an audio interview with Peter Betts after Saturday’s match. Should the match be postponed then the race night, that is due to follow the game, would instead take place at 8pm.
