The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
Seb Hayes admits that his Holbeach United squad is down to the bare bones ahead of an Easter derby double-header.
The Tigers welcome Boston Town to Carter’s Park on Saturday (3pm), before visiting Wisbech Town on Easter Monday (also 3pm). Having set his players a target of remaining unbeaten for the rest of the ChromaSport UCL Premier Division season, Hayes admits that he’d settle for emerging unscathed from the two clashes.
That’s because he’s without suspended duo Stacy Cartwright and Josh Ford, plus Spencer Tinkler (broken ribs), Dan Jenkins (knee) and the unavailable Stuart Muldrew.
Boston (20th) are safe from relegation and have been much-improved under Gary Frost, while Wisbech (sixth) are level on points with the Tigers (seventh) in the race for a top six finish.
“We are right down to the bare bones,” bemoaned Hayes. “It’s going to be tough, we may need to call upon a few of the Reserves.
“It’s a bit of a nasty predicament for us. But, on the plus side, it will allow me to give the young players another chance.
“Callum Davies really impressed last weekend and Dan Dougill has now established himself as a first team regular.
“I’m expecting Boston to be very physical and in our faces. They are safe and haven’t got much to play for, but they’ll be up for it against us for sure.
“If you look at their recent results, nobody has it easy against them.
“As for Wisbech, they have a cup final to look forward to and the players will all want to impress enough to be picked.
“We’re fighting for position with them, but I appreciate that we will be missing a lot of players.
“The aim for the lads is to stay unbeaten. But the most important thing is to stay unbeaten at home.
“We want to be taking maximum points at Carter’s Park more often than not.
“We’ve only dropped five points at home while I’ve been here, which is great. If we can remain unbeaten over Easter I’ll be very happy.”
Holbeach won the reverse fixture with Boston Town 3-1 back in September, but did lose 3-2 at Tattershall Road in the Lincs Senior Trophy in January.
Wisbech, meanwhile, were 3-1 winners at Carter’s Park on Boxing Day and are bidding to seal a UCL double.
