FGR currently lie second-from-bottom in the Nationwide Conference with just four points – and ten goals – from their fourteen games thus far. Indeed, they would prop up the table were it not for Northwich Victoria having ten points deducted in late September after going into administration. As a result, manager Alan Lewer is seeking to bolster his strikeforce, and Blues front-runner Husbands could be the answer.
Rovers tackle Cheltenham Town in a low-key friendly at The Lawn this evening, and Husbands, who began his career with Aston Villa and spent a month on loan at FGR’s Conference rivals Hereford United in his final season with the Villains, will play off against former Robins target man Julian Alsop for a place in Lewer’s squad.
The lumbering Alsop will face his old club after being released by Oxford United on Monday in a most unsavoury incident. Our fellow footyMAD site www.swanseacitymad.co.uk are reporting that the ex-Vetch Field front runner has been accused of sexually assaulting a youth team player by shoving a banana up his backside in a “prank that went too far”. The source of the accusations is The Sun newspaper, so this may have been dramatised, but if not then Alsop’s career hangs in the balance.
Unsettled Husbands, who was surprised that he had been transfer-listed, but has since made no secret of his wish to leave Roots Hall if he is not wanted, was thought to be the target of another Conference outfit, Canvey Island, but with the Gulls failing to table an approach, the 21-year-old will instead seek to further his career closer to his birthplace of Birmingham. That bid begins tonight at The Lawn.
Robert Craven
www.thelittlegazette.com