Jarrow Roofing looking forward to away days

The Roofers played their penultimate home match of the season on Saturday, and they now face the prospect of five tough trips in a row as they bid to continue their excellent run of form in the Ebac Northern League Division One.

The South Tynesiders start this run tonight when they travel to the Wanted Stadium to take on struggling West Auckland Town, and Collingwood says the change of scenery might actually benefit the side.

“Sometimes, changes are good,” he said. “Sometimes, playing games away from home is better than being at home.

“We’ve played a lot of matches on our own ground in the last few weeks, so a change of scenery and environment might do the lads a world of good.

“When you’re playing in similar surroundings all the time, it can become slightly monotonous, so I think this tough run of away fixtures we’ve got coming up will do us more good than harm.”

Saturday’s win against Chester-le-Street Town made it six games unbeaten for the Roofers and three wins in a row, and joint manager Collingwood says the team can relax as the season nears its finale.

“We’re safe now, and we’re just going out onto the pitch every week and enjoying our football and enjoying what’s left of the season,” he added.

“West, on the other hand, are under a little bit of pressure, but I’m still expecting a tricky game. They’ve got some good players, but we’re going to go there and enjoy ourselves and try and extend this unbeaten run.

“I think the lads deserve to go out and enjoy the remaining games of the season because it’s taken a lot of hard work by everyone to get to where we are now, and the work we have put in is paying off on the pitch.

“However, we are going down there to win. We’re not going there to make up the numbers and let them dictate things.

“It’s important to try and win as many games as possible from now on as we start to look ahead to next season. We need to try and build up as much momentum as possible so that we can hit the ground running when we return for the summer.”

Collingwood has hinted that some changes may be made for tonight’s game to give everyone a chance to impress.

Kick-off in County Durham is at 7.30pm.