moors

Fleet set out for a night on the Moors

It’s new opposition in the form of Solihull Moors for the Fleet tonight, with Daryl McMahon hoping to extend the run of wins and clean sheets and take his side to the 21-point mark.

Struggling Moors are second from bottom and four points adrift of safety but have provided stubborn resistance against plenty of sides this season, going down only by the odd goal at league leaders Dover at the weekend and the week before that holding Dagenham & Redbridge to a draw.

Managed by Liam McDonald, the club have shut up shop since 3-1 and 4-1 defeats at the start of the season and most of their recent reverses have been close-run things. Victories have come at Torquay and at home to Chester and they will hope a Tuesday night at home will yield them another one.

Up front has been a problem area for Solihull, with injuries robbing them of summer signings Jermaine Hylton and Luke Benbow but young striker Wes McDonald has been recruited on loan from Birmingham City while midfielder Courtney Richards has sealed a three-month move from Macclesfield Town. And a familiar face up front will be former York and Crawley striker Richard Brodie, who signed for Solihull earlier this month. The men to watch, however, will be Loughborough University student Oladapo Afolayan who caught the eye late last season and has five goals in a relatively low-scoring side and Darren Carter, the veteran former Birmingham, West Brom, Preston and Forest Green midfielder.

While Moors represent new opposition and Damson Park is a new venue for Fleet supporters, we did play against their two predecessor clubs Moor Green and Solihull Borough in the Southern League in the Nineties.

For the Fleet, McMahon wasn’t unduly worried about Andy Drury and Darren McQueen after they limped off with minor knocks on Saturday, referring to both substitutions as largely precautionary, and both players should be in the running for a place tonight. Having started the side that finished at Boreham Wood against Halifax, Fleet fans will likely be hoping to see the side that finished on Saturday start this one, meaning that two-goal Sean Shields gets an opportunity to continue from where he left off. Jack Payne remains sidelined with his knee injury while Sam Magri is also unavailable as he limbers up for Malta’s World Cup qualification games later this week.

Fleet could go as high as eighth tonight depending on other results, but McMahon won’t let his players get ahead of themselves with recent wins and knows that in a tight division, clubs in the relegation zone are perfectly capable of taking points from those at the other end of the table.

Admission information and ground directions can all be found on the Solihull Moors website here.

 

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