Paul Collicutt is hoping for an early birthday present in his home village as Evesham United visit Bishop’s Cleeve tonight.
Collicutt has lived in Cleeve since the age of eight and he led the football club into the Southern League as manager in 2006.
The experienced boss celebrates his 57th birthday on Thursday and he knows only a win at Kayte Lane will keep Evesham in the play-off chase.
“I can’t speak highly enough of my players for making the end of the season interesting,” Collicutt said.
“But we know only a win at Cleeve will be enough for us to stay in with a chance and the lads know that.
“Cleeve is where I live and have done for a long time now, so it’ll always be special going there and I give Sooty (Steve Cleal) a lot of credit for the job he’s doing there.
“It’s my birthday on Thursday so I am hoping for three points and then we will play North Leigh at home on Saturday still in there fighting.”
Evesham will name the same squad that won 5-0 at Burnham on Saturday with Lewis Binns and Lance Smith both ruled out for the rest of the season with injuries.
Cleeve held Winchester to a 1-1 draw at Kayte Lane on Saturday, maintaining their impressive home record this season, with only three defeats on their own turf.
Cleal will always refer to Collicutt as ‘the gaffer’ having played in and captained his Cleeve side for many years.
But his team will be going all out to cause an upset, looking to avenge the 5-0 defeat they suffered in Cleal’s first game on the touchline as Cleeve manager last season.
“It’s always nice to come up against a team managed by the gaffer and I am sure Evesham will bring a few fans down, with them still having an outside chance of the play-offs,” Cleal said.
“We did them a bit of a favour on Saturday, but it was more of a favour for Bishop’s Cleeve and we are looking for more points to finish the season strongly and we have nothing to fear at all.”
Elliot Kennedy (groin) is likely to miss out along with Jordan Stoddart and Harlie Price, but Jack Watts returns after missing Saturday’s game due to attend a wedding.
Jordan Bryan is struggling with a back problem, but Jack Horrell is available for the next three games before he returns to university.
Defender Leroy Odiero is also back in the reckoning after making an appearance from the bench against Winchester.
Source : Gloucestershire Echo
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