Niall Cummins in fitness race for Burscough

Mar 21 2013 by Philip Kirkbride, Skelmersdale Advertiser

BURSCOUGH will continue to assess the fitness of top scorer Niall Cummins ahead of the home game with Wakefield.

Cummins scored his 20th goal of the season in last weekend’s game with Prescot Cables but was replaced before the end of the game by Liam Dodd.

The Greens striker picked up an injury in the 2-1 defeat at Victoria Park and is a doubt for Saturday’s visit of relegation-threatened Wakefield.

Burscough boss Derek Goulding says Cummins will be monitored closely at training this evening before a decision is made on his fitness.

Goulding has been able to welcome back Dave Roberts, Darren Brookfield and Phil Clarke to training last week but was unsure if the trio would make Saturday’s game.

“We will know more towards the end of the week but Niall Cummins took a knock in the game,” confirmed Goulding.

“But Dave Roberts, Darren Brookfield and Phil Clarke started training again last week so hopefully they are getting closer to being fit enough to play again.

“The team ethic is really good here and all the lads have filled in well whilst these players have been missing.

“It is good that we have coped so well without them. But it will be nice to see those lads back playing soon.”

Wakefield are fourth bottom of the Evo-Stik First Division North but Goulding has warned his side to take no notice of their league position.

“We played Wakefield in the FA Trophy earlier in the season and they were a bright young team,” he said.

“But it has been a long time since then and, as we know, losing a lot of games can grind you down.

“But we cannot take anything for granted in non-league football. There are peaks and troughs as we’ve found ourselves.”

Cummins’ goal on Saturday levelled the game with Prescot but the visitors struck again to take all three points.

“We had chances but I thought they equipped themselves very well. They worked hard. They just got on top of us and ground us down.

“It is not really a concern because sometimes the opposition’s work-rate just gets the better of you. But we had some decent spells.”