Daisy Hill will be looking to keep their run of good form going on Saturday when they travel to face Nelson in the North West Counties League First Division North.
Tuesday night’s 5-0 win away to Skelmersdale United extended their unbeaten run in league and cup competitions to seven games, but Daisy face a stiff challenge on Saturday against a team sitting in second place in the league table, who could still finish as champions should Atherton LR slip up in their last two games.
However, Daisy’s assistant manager, Jack Iley, insists it’s a game that will be a good test for a squad looking to finish the season on a high.
“It’s a different type of game compared to the one at Skelmersdale United on Tuesday night, but we don’t want to change our approach too much,” said Iley.
“We have players in our squad that we believe are good enough to compete with teams like Nelson, and we will approach it in the same way as we did when we went to Droylsden and won, who were unbeaten at home up to that point.
“We know if we can play as we did in the second half against Skelmersdale United on Tuesday night, and as we have done against other teams in quite a few other games since Christmas, we know we can hold our own against teams above us.
“We have been saying for a few weeks now we don’t want games to be dead rubbers for us as we get towards the end of the season.
“We are in with a chance of finishing seventh in the league and that would be a great finishing position for the club if we were to do that.
“We want to get something from the Nelson game, and we have said between us that if we can get four points from the last two games, we have a good chance of finishing seventh or eighth in the league table, and that is our personal target.
“Nelson still need to pick up points themselves, they have been up at the top of the table all season and have taken Atherton LR and Droylsden right down to the last couple of games of the season in the promotion chase.
“We will look at the danger men that they have, but at the same time look at areas we feel we can exploit.
“They have lost their last two games, the latest against Atherton LR last Saturday, so they are a team that can be beaten, they are not unbeatable.
“We won’t be naïve and turn up there expecting to get three points, but it’s not a game we look at and feel that we have to be overly fearful.
“If we can go there and show that we can match their level of quality, we should have every belief in the squad that we can go again next season, and be up there challenging at the top of the table ourselves.
