The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
Holbeach United manager Darren Jarvis has told his side to forget their FA Vase exit and re-focus on their bid for a ChromaSport UCL Premier Division double.
The Tigers were dumped out of the Vase at Walsall Wood on Saturday, but sit third in the league and are already through to the quarter-finals of the Knockout Cup.
Winning either competition would represent a great season for Holbeach – and Jarvis reckons plenty of sides would envy their position at present.
He said: “It’s time for us to focus on the league and UCL Cup now.
“We’re in a great position in the league as we approach Christmas and obviously we’re in the last eight of the cup.
“We need to put our FA Cup and FA Vase defeats behind us and re-focus on these two competitions.
“At this stage of the season, a lot of teams would want to swap positions with us, I’m sure of it. If you look at what we’ve achieved this season, we should all be very proud of ourselves.
“The FA Cup run was great. OK, we couldn’t match that in the Vase. But now it’s time to see what we can do in the other two competitions.”
Jarvis admits that he’s wary of Saturday’s UCL Premier Division opponents Harborough Town.
The Leicestershire side arrive at Carter’s Park (3pm) in 11th position, but did earn an impressive 1-0 win over Michael Goode’s Deeping Rangers on Saturday.
Jarvis can see a lot of his old Blackstones side – who he co-managed with Goode – in Harborough and has warned his side that they face a tough task.
“They have two managers that are getting the absolute best out of that squad,” added the Holbeach chief. “I have a massive amount of respect for what they are doing this season.
“I look at them and see plenty of similarities with the Blackstones side Michael and myself managed.
“I know they haven’t got the biggest budget, but they work hard and are very well set-up.
“I know we’ll be in for a very tough match, but we’ll obviously be hoping for all three points.”
Holbeach are still without striker Tommy Treacher, but should have an otherwise strong squad to pick from.
The Tigers also visit Deeping Rangers in the league on Tuesday night (7.45pm).
