Three players have shaken off injury and will be included in the squad travelling to Gravesend & Northfleet, and Rob Newman hopes his squad has learned from the opening day defeat away at Forest Green.
Defenders Andy Duncan and Dan Gleeson (right) needed treatment earlier this week for calf and back injuries respectively, while striker Paul Atkins is available for selection for the first time this season after recovering from an ankle injury and then a virus [From The Physio article].
Left back David Chick is still under treatment for a foot injury and will not be in contention before starting a 35-day ban commencing 29th August 2005 and running to 2nd October 2005.
The suspension was incurred following his dismissal whilst playing for King's Lynn Reserves last season.
"We're in a nice position at the moment but we won't read too much into that," commented Newman as he previewed tomorrow's trip to Kent.
"You can go about fifteen places up or down the table if you win or lose at this stage, but what has pleased me is the way we bounced back from the Forest Green game against two sides who the experts think will be challenging for promotion at the end of the season and took maximum points from them.
"I'm pleased for the fans that they've seen those two wins at home. A lot of people went to Forest Green and were disappointed - as we all were - at the defeat. I'm a winner and don't like losing, and after the two home wins it will be interesting to see how they react at Gravesend and what lessons we learned at Forest Green.
"It's going to be a Forest Green situation again, where we have to go to someone's ground and it may not be the nicest of changing rooms and surroundings, and hopefully now they've got the Forest Green reaction out of their system and we can put up a similar performance to the two home games.
"At Forest Green," he continued, "we tried to match them physically but sometimes we lost the quality that I know we have in the team; some of the guile and technique went missing. The effort was there and I don't think fitness has been a problem, so hopefully we will go to Gravesend with confidence, match them physically and then hopefully the ball will come into play later in the game and we will display our quality."
With two matches in three days over the Bank Holiday weekend, and another on Friday at York City, Newman expects to rotate some of his squad this weekend, as he explained.
"We're taking the first team squad to Gravesend and they will all travel because we have another game on Monday. I will pick a team that I think is good enough to beat Gravesend, but I'm almost 100% sure there will be one or two changes for Monday.
"There are people in the squad good enough to go into the team, and with two games in three days there may be some who will be a little jaded after the game on Saturday. I'm trying to build competition for every place and if the ones in the team don't perform then I've got people within the squad - let alone bringing new people in - who are chomping at the bit to get in that team.
"I'm looking forward to it and it's nice to come into the weekend on the back of two wins, but consistent teams don't come about after two or three games; they come about after seven or eight games," he warned. "I would like to be sitting here in a week's time on the back of four wins.
"We've had Gravesend watched and we will treat them with respect. They got off to an unfortunate start but they got a terrific win at Canvey, which is a difficult place to go, so it won't be easy. I've played against both Liam Daish and Alan Kimble, and we've got make sure that we're ready for it and committed to the cause on Saturday."
Acknowledging the fact that the last time United won three games in a row was in March 1999 during the promotion campaign under Roy McFarland, Newman concluded, "Everyone has kept mentioning that to me this week! That's what we're aiming to do, and if we go there and play to the best of our ability then hopefully we're good enough to get the win and that would set us up nicely for Monday."
Read the news from the Gravesend camp and details about their squad and season to date in Chris Vessey's "The Other Side" preview, you can find directions here, and if you fancy a punt on the U's we have all the odds you'll need (and some special offers) at AbbeyBet. Our new betting columnist Mr Armchair shares his advice here.
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