Big chance for Hucknall Town to close gap with home clash against Newark & Sherwood

A 4-0 defeat at leaders Sherwood Colliery last weekend followed the 3-0 loss at third-placed Lincoln United and the 2-1 loss at Melton Town.

Hucknall now face a Newark side in 16th, just one place above them and five points above them and joint boss Louis Bland said: “This will be our third league home game and we are unbeaten in our previous two with draws with Loughborough Students and AFC Mansfield.

“So on Saturday we will be looking to attain those all important three points meaning we can claw back some of those teams who have got a little gap ahead of us.

“With Newark being one of them it’s a chance to close back to just two points.

“The last three weekends have been incredibly tough as we’ve faced the best three teams in the league away from home.

“I think we’ve competed with them for spells,but over the course of 90 minutes we just don’t have enough right now to challenge them over the whole game.

“But there were still some positives signs. Our aim in our tenure here is to be up there and compete, not just over a 90 minute period but for the whole season, with teams like that and it has to start somewhere and it has the last two weeks.”

He added: “Saturday's game is a big one if you look at the league table as we welcome third bottom Newark and Sherwood to the RM stadium.

“I’ve watched Newark play a few times this year and they don’t strike me as a team that should be down there as their performances are miles better than points on board.

“They have been very similar to us since our appointment but sometimes you don’t get what you deserve and we’re both down there for a reason.

“They had a tremendous season last season finishing in the top eight but have lost a lot of their top players, who have moved on up the leagues.

“But we are excepting a really tough game on Saturday. Our away support is fantastic, but the home support is even better and we can hopefully repay that support on Saturday with a well deserved victory.”​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​