The change to an evening kick-off on Good Friday for the Blue Square South match away to Staines Town might deter some fans from going but one Worcester City supporter who intends to be there is Niels Eiriksson.
Niels won't be wondering if a train or coach will get him there or back nor whether his car might let him down. Niels is making the journey of approximately 110 miles by bicycle!
Niels hasn't been a regular cyclist for about ten years but he has recently been in training in preparation for Friday's challenge.
Daily fourteen-mile rides and longer rides of between thirty and sixty miles at weekends had been going well until interrupted two weeks ago due to business in Iceland (the country, not buying his frozen food) the week before last. He returned to his training regime with a thirty-mile run once he got back but was then laid low with a bug which has since prevented him from getting back in the saddle. Despite this setback anyone who knows Neils will be confident that his determination will see him succeed in completing his arduous trip.
His objective is to raise money for Worcester City Supporters' Trust's plans to assist the football club with the purchase of pitch coverings for Saint George's Lane - the number of postponements this season which could have been avoided had these been available clearly shows how much benefit these could provide to the club (and our opponents) - and to boost the funds available to City manager Carl Heeley who is having to run his squad on one of the lowest budgets in the league.
The fixture change from the Saturday means that he will be setting off from Worcester at 8.30am instead of the 5am start which was originally planned for a 3pm kick-off although on the minus side he is expecting that there will be more traffic to contend with than if the game had not been brought forward a day.
He will be travelling with Steve Price who is a more experienced cyclist and who will be providing support and encouragement along the way.
Niels's brave venture fully deserves everyone's support and people can help by visiting the Supporters' Trust website (http://www.wcfcst.co.uk) where details of how to make a pledge or a donation can be found.
(Kieran Mooney)
