Hinckley AFC go in search of a second straight league win when Hucknall Town visit St John’s Park on Saturday.
AFC play their first home match in four weeks – back at their temporary Heather home for the visit of the Yellows.
It follows their win at then-league leaders St Andrews 11 days ago.
Town currently hold the last play-off spot, in fifth with 21 points from their 12 matches so far.
But back-to-back 3-1 defeats have put a dent in their top of the table ambitions, losing to Radford and Dunkirk in the past week.
Hinckley manager Courtney Belford watched the Dunkirk match and knows what to expect from the visitors. He said: “We’ve got a gauge on how they play.
“We won’t get too drawn into that, because we want to focus on ourselves and how we can hurt teams, but it’s always useful to pick up little things that can help us.”
Hucknall have former Hinckley forward Grant Ryan leading the line for them, while ex-Nottingham Forest man Craig Westcarr also stars up front.
Only Belper United have played fewer matches than Hinckley so far – AFC are six points behind their opponents tomorrow but with three games in hand.
It’s the first of three games against top half sides – with visits to Lutterworth Athletic and Harrowby United to follow in the week.
But Belford isn’t getting too drawn into those games yet: “This next week will be a good test of where we’re at.
You tend to find a league taking shape after 12 games, but this season everyone is beating everyone.
“We saw last year that winning runs can change everything. There’s no panic for us, we’ll try and win three games, but we won’t look too far ahead past the desire for three points against Hucknall.”
Adults: £6
Concessions: £4
Under 16s: £2 (FREE with HAFC Junior membership card)
