Phil Barnes wants Holbeach United to exact a measure of revenge against bogey side Loughborough University on Saturday (3pm).
The Tigers play host to a side that have scored five goals on each of their past two visits to Carter’s Park, including a 5-1 victory in the FA Vase last month.
Barnes admits that his team had something of an inferiority complex in that fixture, but is hopeful that they’ll impose themselves much better in the Uhlsport UCL Premier Division clash this weekend.
“It’s fair to say we’d like a bit of revenge,” admitted Barnes. “We weren’t at the races last time.
“We need to have more belief in ourselves and impose our game on them this time.
“I think we went into the game thinking they were a better side than us – and you can’t do that.
“We need to get in their faces. They are one of the best, perhaps the best, footballing team in the league.
“But they’ve learnt to adapt and are capable of going long, so we need to be prepared for that too.”
Barnes has a shortage of attacking options ahead of the clash, with Jonny Lockie out for at least another month with ankle ligament damage and Liam Tunstall not available.
His move for Long Sutton Athletic skipper Jake Clitheroe has also failed, so Barnes is looking at other options and has approaches in.
Following the Loughborough game, Holbeach have another tricky test at Wellingborough Town on Tuesday night (7.45pm).
“That’s another tough game for us,” added Barnes. “But the reality is that there are no easy games at the moment.
“Some of the results I’ve been seeing – look at Oadby Town drawing with Shepshed and Quorn – show that.
“But I’m very happy with the squad that we have here, it’s just unfortunate that we’ve not been able to field our best side many times this season.”
