Wokingham & Emmbrook boss issues commitment warning

Published 13 Dec 2012 17:45 0 Comments

WOKINGHAM & Emmbrook manager Roger Herridge has warned his players that they risk losing their place in the side if they are not consistently available for selection.

The message comes in the wake of Sumas' 1-0 defeat at Oxford City Nomads on Saturday, when several first-team players were not present.

That meant Herridge was forced to call up George Scope from the Allied Counties side and hand a debut to 16-year-old Michael Walton.

Although both performed admirably given the step up in quality, Herridge was left frustrated by what he perceived to be a missed opportunity to make it five wins on the spin.

"It is frustrating because Tuesday night we got a great result at Highworth and I'm not being dismissive of Oxford City, but if we had one or two more players available we would have three more points and be in an even better position," he told the News.

"We have had a good first half to the season, especially as all the elements seem to have gone against us, but we need to have our best players available.

"The lads are a great bunch of players and I can't knock them, but at the moment they can miss games and come straight back into the side because others do the same.

"That is not going to happen any more and it can't happen. Players who are not available will find themselves on the bench the next week.

"There are a few that may find themselves not in the team if they keep missing games."

Herridge's troubles last Saturday were compounded by the fact Luke Lee had to stay late at work, meaning the injured Alex Walton had to start the game in his place.

To make matters worse, Walton then aggravated an injury and was replaced by Lee late in the first half, by which time Sumas were a goal behind.

"It says a lot about Alex that he wanted to play because if we had more players he would have got the rest he needed," said Herridge.

"But I thought that we did enough to win the game and I was disappointed for the players that were there because we dominated the match but they got the only goal.

"If we had been a bit stronger and had that bit of extra quality up front we would have got

a result.

"It's very difficult when you don't pay players and that is the situation you find yourselves in."

Wokingham will be hoping to get back to winning ways when they host high-flying Slimbridge this Saturday (3pm ko).

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