The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
Ian Dunn has revenge on his mind as table-topping Pinchbeck United welcome fourth-placed Buckingham Town to the Sir Halley Stewart Playing Field on Saturday (3pm).
The Knights, four points clear at the top of the ChromaSport UCL Division One table after beating second-placed Raunds Town 1-0 last weekend, suffered one of their two league losses at Buckingham back in August.
Pinchbeck lost 2-1 that day, but player/boss Dunn insists his side did more than enough to win.
Avenging that loss would cement promoted Pinchbeck’s place at the top ahead of the busy festive period – and Dunn knows his side are capable.
“I’m still disappointed by the defeat at Buckingham,” said the experienced striker. “We really should have won that day – so to lose was tough to take.
“We probably had ten good chances, but we missed them and they punished us. With that in mind, we know we can cause them problems.
“They’ve not travelled as well as they’d probably like. We need to keep doing what we’ve been doing and focus on being very solid at the back.
“The win over Raunds and recent good run gives us confidence. But we know that a blip is never far away in this league. We need to stay focused and stay consistent.”
Being top isn’t something Dunn’s Pinchbeck are used to, but the chief reckons going out of all three cup competitions early will ultimately help his side.
“Maybe going out of all the cups early has been a blessing in disguise,” added Dunn. “We’re very much Saturday to Saturday fixture-wise from now until the end of the season.
“In a way, that’s what we’re used to – having come up from the PDFL.
“But we’re not used to being top and having the points on the board. We’ve always been a side that has to chase others down and play catch up.
“It will allow us to manage the fitness of our players – the likes of Jack Smith, Andrew Tidswell, Nick Bishop and myself – who would have otherwise stuggled with two games a week, every week.”
Chris Shipley and Tony Edwards could return on Saturday, but Edgaras Buzas and Luke Gardner are rated as doubts.
