Lineup versus Crawley?

As for Clifton, I think we can all agree that he's had his worst season for us. He did a really good job the previous year and his versatility in positions where he doesn't have to receive the ball in the middle is very helpful. I don't think there's any chance he will move to League One after this season, but I think there is a place for him in our squad. Being able to provide cover in both full-back roles or wing-back and wide midfield is very helpful, especially allied to his sheer work rate. I don't see him as a starter for us, but think he will be offered a new deal and we can expect better from him than we've seen this season.

Some managers just get the best out of players and I reckon that’s the same with hurst and Clifton. If he was/is offered the chance to sign, am sure that HC will jump at the chance. Will he get offered another contract? Am very doubtful. But the difference in form between a year ago and today is seismic.

I don’t think HC has been in a happy place since DA came in . No inside info, just a thought seeing as PH was such a fan of him . A new style introduced that probably didn’t play to his strengths and his performance fell off . A fresh start will do him good I think and L1 in the right team and management won’t be too big a step . Amazing what a bit of confidence can do to a player.

I would like Cam Gardner to feature.

I’ve heard from a few good sources that both Grimsby Borough & Clee Town think that he’s “head and shoulders better” than anyone else Town have loaned to that level.

I hope he picks his best available team. Crawley will be going for it and I’d rather not go into the summer on the back of a stuffing
On the question of Harry Clifton, maybe it hasn’t helped that he’s been surrounded by garbage most of the season. That would make most of us stink?

He was better in 20/21 though.

He's not reached the standard of the previous two seasons, no doubt about that.  But he has carried an injury for most of this season and that has to eventually take it's toll.  There's only 4 of the 45 league fixtures he hasn't been in the squad for and started 36 of those.

He was in every squad the season before, all 57 games including all the cups and all but 3 in the play-off winning campaign (so that's around 150 games in 3 consecutive seasons with that ridiculous short break in the summer of 2022).  The last time he had more than a one-game break was March 2021.

I know some will harp back to the days when men were real men and players played 7 games in an hour before going back to work, impregnating the wife three times at half-time, putting up a garden wall whilst a corner was taken and still finding time to neck 40 pints of Guinness without throwing up.  But in the modern game that's a lot of strain on the body.  The lad's probably just knackered.

Can see him being a good squad player for us next year. Just need to recuperate and get to grips with Artells new system (like everyone else)

That said, lets not waste anyone's time. If he isn't going to be a starter he should be told and given the clubs blessing to look elsewhere (york? What a signing for them). If that is what he wants.

Play our players not loanees unless we are short. A farewell appearance for Gav. Hunt and Gardner on the bench.

                               Eastwood

             Rodgers.     Tharme.       Maher

Braithwaite.            Thompson.               Khouri
                  Holohan                   Clifton.

                                Vernam

                                Gardner

Subs.
Mullarkey, Bramwell, Hunt, Green, Wilson, Tomlinson, Essel