THOUGHTS FROM THE DUGOUT

Good afternoon, and welcome to Rakesmoor Lane for this afternoon’s North West Counties Football League fixture against Bacup Borough FC.

Here we are again, four days after our home win against 2nd placed Ilkley Town AFC!

We knew Ilkley were in a good run of form, which is reflected in them being 2nd in the league, so if we were serious about being in those play-off places come the end of the season, we had to get a result, and the win was significant. The feeling amongst the lads in the changing room after the game was that the 1-0 hard-fought win is what team sport is all about, and it felt even better than the 6-0 win at Garstang last Saturday.

The last number of games have really put us back in contention, and we need to keep picking up points game by game. Today’s game against Bacup Borough FC is another opportunity to add 3 points to our total before the reverse fixture in just four days’ time.

We have just passed the halfway mark, so there are still a lot of games to go, and we need to keep our focus and not become complacent after four straight league wins. We must manage the squad effectively, with lads picking up and carrying knocks and not having much recovery time. It will be a good test for our group that we need to pass if we want to be in with a chance of bettering last season’s ending.

KEVIN WATKIN