Fitness is the way to mid-table for Marine (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Fitness is the way to mid-table for Marine

WITH his side's second blank weekend in three Supermarine boss Tommy Saunders is busy making sure his players keep up their match fitness.

The Swindon club's match with bottom side Cinderford two Saturdays ago fell foul of the weather and they have no fixture this weekend either.

In between they lost 1-0 to Chippenham Town in the second leg of the Wiltshire Premier Shield semi-final and were then defeated 2-1 by high-flying Rugby 2-1 on Saturday.

Saunders said: "After having the Cinderford game called off we could have done without this free weekend.

"I'm trying to arrange a friendly against Purton for next Tuesday which I think is the best thing to do to keep us ticking over. Glenn Armstrong will go back to Calne this Saturday and Dean Gilewicz should be playing for Devizes."

He added: "I get on well with Simon Hiller at Calne and Dave Hopkins at Devizes and because we haven't got a game they can have who they need.

"Andy Coombes has played every midweek game for us so far but it is only because Dave Hopkins has let him. If I can help them in return I will."

Saunders is continuing to juggle his own squad this week as Darren McCluskey departs and he welcomes new centre-half Graham Little to the fold.

"Darren played in my first game but has been on the bench since then and I wish him all the best," said Saunders.

"Graham is from the Swindon area and was an apprentice at Swindon Town before he went on a scholarship in America. He approached us about joining the club."

Saunders denied he is making wholesale changes in a bid to remould the Swindon side to his liking.

"At the moment I am not putting together a team," he added. "I am assessing players and their reactions to training and defeats. We have now lost four in a row by the odd goal and apart from the first match, which was embarrassing, they are showing the correct attitude and desire.

"Hopefully we can get three or four more wins before the end of the season and finish in a mid-table position. Then we can plan for next season."

Saunders has given his temporary assistant-manager Mark Collier the job on a permanent basis.

Saunders said: "He has been working with Swindon Town and seems very keen. But because we've had so many games recently and the weather has been so bad that we've not had much of a chance to train.

"Undoubtedly Mark is a decent coach and I'm looking forward working with him on the training ground. Our first job will be to work on the players' fitness.

"I didn't really know Mark until I took job at Supermarine. Up until then he was more of a passing acquaintance.

"There is a long way to go but we'll see how it goes. If we enjoy anything like the success that I had with Nobby Bush then that will be superb."