Tomlinson debut in win for injury-hit Hucknall Town provides boss Andy Ingle with some cheer

Having lost Kieran Lane with a broken leg in the midweek defeat against Dunkirk and without a string of other top players like Sam Simms, Jamie Crawford, Oli Brown, Joe Butler and Joey Ashurst, Ingle was delighted to win 2-0 at Bourne Town on Saturday thanks to a late Craig Westcarr brace.

And he pointed to the display of Tomlinson, drafted in late as a new signing, as a highlight.

“At this point I can't see any new faces coming in for this weekend,” said Ingle.

“We just missed out on a couple of loan players by about five days but did make the one signing we got in for last week with Tomlinson.

“He did well, had a brilliant debut, and will be back in on Saturday. He was our best player on the day. He played at left back but can play centre half too. He has proven ability as he has come from Kimberley.

“We managed to do a deal with them to get him signed on in time. Louis is going to be a good asset for us as well as he has fitted in straight away and looked like he has been playing with us for months if I'm honest.”

He added: “We are hoping we are going to get players back, but we're not fazed by it. There is no point in panicking. We have got a decent squad, but you always miss your key players. So it's just a case of getting them fit and getting them back in.

“But the lads that have come in have been brilliant and stuck to the task. We have asked them to do certain jobs and they have done them.”

Hucknall host Birstall United Social on Saturday, who have won all four games so far, before a local derby at Clipstone on Tuesday.

“Birstall will be a good, strong test at home and we're hoping we make use of home advantage,” said Ingle.

“We need to concentrate on what we can do rather than on what they can do and work to our strengths.

“The Dunkirk one was a funny one as we had the injuries and what happened to Kieran on the night dragged us down a bit. We just couldn't get out the blocks.

“So the win on Saturday has certainly put us back right and we're just looking forward to Saturday again now. We were very stubborn last Saturday, the way we broke things down. We remain confident.”

On team news, he added: “Joey Ashurst is back which is good as we need him – he makes a lot tick through midfield.

“Oli Brown will be another three or four weeks- it's worse than we first thought.

“Sam Simms and Jamie Crawford are improving but I don't think they will be in contention this weekend.”​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​