Hughes not keen to change Ciren's winning line-up
SKIPPER Jamie Reid returns to the Cirencester Town squad for tomorrow's visit of Clevedon Town, but the combative midfielder may have to settle for a place on the bench.
Reid has missed the past three games through suspension after he picked up his third red card of the season in the 1-0 win at Hungerford Town.
In his absence, the Centurions have won three straight games and boss Brian Hughes said Reid may have to be patient in waiting for a recall.
"As a manager I try to treat my players as I would have been wanted to have been treated as a player," Hughes said.
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"And after the performances in our last three games, if I was in our team I would expect to keep my place in the side.
"So while it's great to have Jamie back, he may have to be patient and wait for his chance to come back in."
Hughes was delighted with his side's performances in their 2-1 win at Tiverton Town last weekend, reserving special praise for their mental toughness in striking back to win.
Leading through a 70th minute Sam Collier goal, Cirencester were pegged back by an 84th minute strike from Tivvy striker Joe Bushin.
However, rather than fall away and feel sorry for themselves the visitors roared back to claim all three points thanks to a late goal from Sam Packer.
"It's never easy at Tiverton as they are a big old unit who chuck everything at you on a bobbly pitch," Hughes said.
"We scored a scrappy goal and it looked like it was going to be an ugly goal to win an ugly game but we then made an error to conceded.
"But rather than feel sorry for ourselves we showed character and some genuine quality to get the winner.
"The signs are really promising and it shows how much progress we have made in the last few weeks and months.
"At the start of the season we probably wouldn't have had the character to bounce back, but now we do and that's really, really pleasing to see."
Hughes has always earmarked this season as one of transition for his squad after their relegation from the Evo-Stik League Premier last term.
And while his side are on the very fringes of the play-off zone, he said that there is still no pressure on his side to achieve anything more than a solid foundation this term.
"This season was always going to be about having about 80 per cent of a team in place that could challenge next season," Hughes said.
"I feel we have got that now – certainly if the season had started in December then we would be right up there and that bodes really well for the future."
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