Holbeach United manager Seb Hayes has several injury concerns heading into the Christmas period, but his young players have been stepping up.
The Tigers have won the last four and host Eynesbury this Saturday.
They then face two local away trips in the Boxing Day derby with Pinchbeck before heading to Deeping Rangers a week on Saturday in the UCL Premier Division.
Hayes has question marks over Luke Avis, Danny Barker and Jamie Stevens and describes the situation as “not ideal”.
But the youngsters are stepping up with 16-year-old Reif Clarke scoring their opener in a dramatic 2-1 injury time win over Peterborough Northern Star last Saturday.
On the injuries, Hayes said: “We’ve maybe rushed some players back from injury because we’ve got a small squad.
“Players that come in replacing them have to be from the U18s.
“We’ve got three teens in the side. Reif is just 16, Jay Whyatt only just 17 and Avis just 19, and that’s good as we want to progress the youth at the club.
“Reece has played the last two in four days and played superbly.
“He’s not ready to play the full 90 minutes yet but he’s still doing really well, which is pleasing. It shows the rest of the opportunities and pathways the young players have at the club.”
On the Christmas fixtures, Hayes continues: “We’ll take each game as it comes. We’re not in the title race so we can look to get as many wins as possible until the end of the season.
“The last two times against Pinchbeck we’ve beaten them 5-1 and 2-0 but that will have no effect on Boxing Day at their place.
“We know how we’re going to play in that game and they will be looking at it as the home side.
“If we win on Saturday then we’re guaranteed to be in the top three at Christmas with two cup semi finals to look forward to.
“That’s higher in the league than we were at this stage last season.
“As a manager I broke up the squad at the end of last season so to be in the top three this year would show that those decision we’ve made are proving to be correct.”
