Hayes wants to extend stellar start as Holbeach United prepare for back-to-back Chenecks tests

Seb Hayes hopes that Holbeach United will keep their stellar start to the new season going ahead of successive Saturday showdowns with Northampton ON Chenecks.

The Tigers host Chenecks in the ChromaSport UCL Premier Division on Saturday, before also welcoming them to Carter’s Park next weekend in the FA Cup.

Sandwiched inbetween those clashes is another home date with Peterborough Northern Star on Wednesday (7.45pm).

Hayes has steered his charges to a 6-0 win over Sleaford Town and a 2-0 FA Cup triumph at Ely City (see page 29), but still feels there is room for improvement ahead of a busy week.

He said: “Playing a team on back-to-back Saturdays is never ideal, but it is what it is – we’d always take a home FA Cup draw against a team from our league.

“They have always been a team who are hard to break down.

“I’d expect them to sit back and let us attack them, then try and hit us on the break.

“We’ve had a good start to the season and I’m keen to maintain that.

“What has pleased me the most so far is that we’re keeping clean sheets and that the strikers have been amongst the goals.

“Last season, we’d have conceded two goals at Ely in the first half and, probably, be out of the FA Cup already.

“Keeping clean sheets is massive for us and I hope that continues. We’ve not put a full 90 minutes together yet, so hopefully that’ll come on Saturday.”

Spencer Tinkler and Dan Dougill are available again but could play for the Reserves to work on fitness.

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