Fitz relishes St Georges return

Gary Fitzpatrick returns to one of his former home grounds tomorrow - though the AFC Telford United midfielder never actually played for Worcester.

The 36-year-old was actually a member of the old Telford United squad back at the start of the 2000/01 season, when City’s St Georges Lane became their base for a few weeks.

The temporary arrangement was made to allow the start of the redevelopment work at the New Bucks Head under the leadership of old chairman Andy Shaw.

And Fitzpatrick recalls: “We played the first seven or eight games down there.

“It’s a nice big park and that will suit us - I remember we used to play some good football there.

“I’m hoping there will be two teams looking to play some good football tomorrow and the ball will be passed around a fair bit.

“It never bothered me playing at Worcester because I live in Birmingham anyway,” he added.”In some ways it was great for me because Worcester was actually closer. We had a lot of lads from the Liverpool area though, and it was a bit of a bind for them.”

Veteran

Fitzpatrick’s form of late has been impressive, and the veteran has established himself as a key component in Telford’s three-man midfield.

But the modest midfielder said: “It’s mainly through injuries that I’ve been fortunate enough to get a run in the side, and I’ve enjoyed it.

“It’s a good set of lads here. We help each other and stick together as a unit.

“I’ve been quite pleased with my form. Getting a run of games allows you to develop some consistency and confidence and that’s what’s happened for me.

“If you’re in and out of the team you’re always looking to prove yourself to the manager and maybe trying to do too much on the ball.”

Tomorrow’s trip will see Telford looking to extend their unbeaten league run to four, with the last two games having seen a 3-2 win over seven-man Vauxhall Motors and a 0-0 draw at Tamworth on Boxing Day.

And Fitzpatrick added: “We were a bit frustrated with the way we played against Vauxhall while they still had 11 men. We wanted to show at Tamworth we are capable of a strong team performance, and we did that.”