SLIDESHOW: Hucknall ready to pounce should Selston or Eastwood slip up, says Graves

Mathematically, should Hucknall win all of their games in hand on the leading pair then they would go top, with fellow challengers South Normanton and Sherwood Colliery also sniffing around hoping for a promotion party.

But Graves knows that task is not as simple as it sounds.

He said: “Those sides are favourites as they already have the points on the board. We still have to win our games in hand although I fully believe we can do that.

“The pressure is on the top sides to keep themselves ahead but there will be several occasions when all they can do is sit and watch us and hope we slip up. They’ll hope we don’t have enough in hand to do any damage.

“Either way, I’ve told our lads not to look at the league table. We have to just concentrate on our games and forget all others and do what we have to do.”

Saturday sees the Yellows visit Sherwood Colliery, currently fifth in the league having played the same number of games as Hucknall (16) and with just one point fewer.

Graves said: “It’s another big game for us. We play them again in a few weeks’ time so if we slip up we have a chance to cancel it out on that occasion, but it would be a good psychological boost to take points off them given we’ve played the same number of games.

“We also still have to play Eastwood in the league again, as well as in the cup, so there is lots of crucial football to be played.”

Graves highlighted Hucknall’s desire to return back to the higher levels following several years at step six, but also emphasised how good it is that the teams battling for promotion come from a very close catchment area.

He said: “We opted for demotion a few years back because we couldn’t operate in the Northern Premier League and felt it important to get stabilised. It’s been a big effort by players, fans and staff to stick with it and make it work.

“The holy grail is getting out of this league which is always so difficult. There are lots of good teams fighting for it, many of them from a tight catchment area, so it’ll be fascinating to see how it pans out for all football fans in the area.”

On last week’s 4-0 win over Keyworth, meanwhile, Graves added: “Keyworth didn’t give in all game and their keeper did really well to keep the score down.

“We missed a lot of chances and although we were three up at half-time, we have to be more ruthless and not as sloppy as we were in the second-half. That said, all that matters now is the points and not how we play.”