Needham Market have a chance to break into the Evo Stik Southern League Premier Central play-off zone, when they entertain basement dwellers Bedworth United this afternoon.
The Marketmen put the huge disappointment of their ‘forced withdrawal’ from the FA Trophy at the start of the week behind them, by beating Redditch United 3-1 in midweek to move up to sixth, just one point and one place adrift of the play-off zone.
The Suffolk side will certainly fancy their chances today, against a Bedworth side who have yet to win a league match this season, losing 14 of their 20 league fixtures with just six points accrued from six draws.
However, they will not be taking the opposition lightly, as manager Richard Wilkins has been quick to stress. Wilkins said: “We need to improve our home form, and make sure Bloomfields is a hard place for teams to come.
“We have dropped a few points at home, when getting draws in matches that we should have won.
“By all reports, Bedworth have picked up of late, and there has been a 50% change in personnel since we played them earlier in the season (4-0 home win).
“They have got draws lately, including against Leiston, so they have started to find some form.
“We must not take them lightly. We must make sure that we do the basics right, so that we can be in and around the top five going into the busy Christmas period. It’s a very important time of year, with so many points up for grabs.”
Referring to Tuesday night’s win over Redditch, Wilkins said: “The goal we scored (James Baker) just before half-time was massive for us, because we didn’t deserve to be level at 1-1 at half-time. We had the wind in our faces, and I always thought the conditions were worth a goal.
“We improved in the second half, and scored with two good finishes. It was a huge win for us, coming after what had happened to us over the last few days. We had spoken about that not ruining our season,” added Wilkins.
Needham’s FA Trophy first round tie at Weymouth was called off because of a waterlogged pitch, and on being forced to return to Dorset to play the match on Tuesday, they decided to withdraw from the competition.
Needham will be at full strength today, with Jamie Griffiths returning to the squad.
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