Rovers plan 10am pitch inspection

Forest Green Rovers have a pitch inspection planned for 10am on Saturday morning to determine whether tomorrow's Nationwide Conference league game against Hereford United can go ahead as planned, kick off 3pm.

The Lawn pitch has been frozen hard for most of the week but a club spokesman said today that although there was a planned inspection, Rovers are "quietly confident" about the game being played.

Again, segregation will be in force this year at the Lawn with travelling supporters asked to use the turnstiles on the main road, towards the bottom of the hill.

Gavin Williams is extremely unlikely to play with an ankle knock, Ian Rodgerson is doubtful with a hip injury and Scott Voice, Mark Williams and Danny Davidson have all had flu. The Bulls will be without Tony Capaldi after his loan spell from Birmingham came to a close.

Forest Green boss Nigel Spink is boosted by the return of two players for the clash with Hereford at The Lawn. Lee Howey is back after a chest infection while Jamie Impey is also fit to start. Spink was not too dismayed after the New Year's Day match against Yeovil was postponed but is looking forward to facing the Bulls.

"Our self-belief has never been in doubt," said Hereford player-coach Phil Robinson to the Evening News. "We always believed we could get results but now we have got back-to-back wins it has given us a big lift."

"The lack of goals from the strikers was an area of concern but hopefully this (the goals against Stlybridge) will be a big boost to them and will mark the start of a little run," he added.

Rovers lost 6-1 to Boston United last time out and Robinson said: "They'll either be determined to get out and put in a good performance having been beaten so heavily or else their confidence might be low. But if we can compete and work the way we have done in recent games then we are in with a chance of getting a result of some description."

Surrey Racing quote a Hereford win at 15/8, a Forest Green victory at 11/10 and a draw at 12/5.

Meanwhile Hereford United have confirmed that they are still awaiting payment of gate receipts from the FA Cup second round tie at Swindon Town last month.

All monies should have been paid within fourteen days and whilst Bulls chairman Graham Turner was sympathetic to the second division's financial problems, he told BBC Hereford & Worcester: "It's common knowledge that it's been difficult to run the club financially. We've sought investors without too much success. All the vibes suggest that we will remain at Edgar Street. We have to obviously satisfy Chelverton's requirements and we have to redevelop Edgar Street. All those problems are at the background at the moment. We've had a little hiccup with our FA Cup money from Swindon and it's a couple of weeks late. We know Swindon have got immense problems financially but so have a lot of other clubs and we would welcome that money being paid on time."

The tax authorities are on the back of Swindon and the possibility of being wound up is likely. They owe £900,000 to the Inland Revenue and a petition is ready for the end of February is they don't pay up. Debts are now at £10 million, according to a club spokesman speaking to HTV West.

"With one or two problems you get a cashflow problem and it was fortunate that we had the televised match that has eased the situation," continued Turner. "We dread the day when a club does go under in the middle of the season but it's looking more and more likely with the amount of debt being carried by football clubs. The game appears to be awash with money but you'd like to see a bit more filter down to the lower levels."

"The FA took a significant step with FA Cup prize money but we'd like to see more in the FA Trophy. They get a lot of money from sponsors like Umbro and the television companies for televising all the FA competition games and the Umbro Trophy is no exception. We got £2,500 for a live game in the FA Trophy and that was paid by the FA and not Sky. The FA deemed the game was worth just £2,500."

The clash against Telford United, which was postponed, caused some worry for Turner. "We were full of confidence and players were raring to go and it was a blow in that respect but putting on the chairman's hat, it's probably cost us a considerable amount of money," he said. "The fact that it's New Year's Day, a generally well supported day, and we were expecting a crowd of over 2,000 for that match. I think we'll get 1,500 for a midweek match perhaps in January or February so it has been a blow to the finances. We were hovering around the wrong end of the table and I think the two victories were well earned."

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