"There are no freebies!" Craig Rouse reflects upon Worksop Town fixtures

Craig Rouse in conversation. Photo: Lewis Pickersgill

Craig Parry’s maiden season begins against Lee Attenborough’s Loughborough Dynamo on Saturday, September 19 at Sandy Lane.

They follow up that opening day fixture with an unwelcomed trip to Cambridgeshire side Wisbech Town – the Tigers’ longest journey of the season – on a Tuesday, September 29.

Rouse has stated that a lot of the teams that Worksop will be facing, maybe unknown entities.

“You can eye up fixtures from last season, but it has no bearing on what you are going to do because sides can ship a full squad out and build a new side during the summer," he said.

“You look at teams like Wisbech, where the manager will know that it wasn’t good enough last season and he will build on where he needs to build.

“Loughborough have a lot of positive points; they have some good attackers and are good going forward, so you have to be ready for every test.

“There aren’t any freebies in this league, and you cannot expect any team to roll over.

“That is the same for any cup games; clubs will want to scrap, so you have to be prepared for games on a Saturday and games on a Tuesday, and if you don’t, then you will easily get found out in this division.”

Rouse also stated that it has been a frustrating wait for the release of these fixtures.

It will have been 189 days since the Tigers last kicked a ball in the league.

Rouse continued: “It has been frustrating for everyone with the COVID-19 situation and we have been hoping and praying to get these fixtures scheduled, so to now open with a home game and with it being our first home fixture (in charge of Worksop), we look forward to it.

“Hopefully, we can get as many fans in there as possible and we hope that we will have ironed out all the mistakes that we have made in pre-season.

“There have been a lot of good aspects to what we have been doing, but there have been a few mistakes, so if we can sort them all out and keep building on what we have been doing positively, then there isn’t any reason that we cannot start well.”