Skipper Sam Cooke reckons Spalding RFC are entering the defining period of their Midlands Two East (North) campaign.
Town, who remain in the bottom two after Saturday’s 31-6 defeat at leaders Dronfield (see page 46), are about to embark on a run of winnable fixtures that should shape their season.
Starting with a Mansfield side directly above them in the table at the Memorial Field on Saturday (2.15pm), Spalding face matches against Market Bosworth (third), Melbourne (ninth), Ashbourne (fourth) and Nottingham Casuals (seventh) in the coming weeks.
Cooke is targeting a bonus-point victory this weekend – and feels that his side need to win to keep themselves in touch with the cluster of sides above them.
But he admits to being a little concerned to see Town fall back into some of their bad habits at Dronfield, despite being impressed by the mentality shown on the day.
“It was great to see the lads go to Dronfield believing they could get a result,” said the Town skipper. “Over the past few years, we’ve sadly become accustomed to accepting we’d lose those kind of games.
“We played very well in the first half and really looked capable of winning the match.
“But Dronfield sniffed out a few weaknesses in our side and made us pay. It was a shame to see a few weak tackles going in again.
“We now have to re-focus for the Mansfield game. It’s one of those matches that we’ll be really up for – I know I certainly have a bit of a vendetta against them.
“Mansfield are a big and nasty side. We’ll really need to be disciplined against them.
“Looking at the table, a bonus-point win would bring us level with them – so that has to be the aim.
“It’s the first game in a run of matches that we really need to take points from if we want to climb the table and achieve our goals.
“We’re rebuilding slowly and want to be competitive. In my mind, this is the best league for us to be in – but we need to build on the improvements we made at the end of 2015.
“It’s the biggest part of our season. We’ve now played the leaders twice and have given them a good game. If we can take that into these matches against mid-table sides, we will have a chance of picking up points.”
Town are expecting to field a strong squad for the Memorial Field match, with new signing Tom Winch, brother of former Spalding favourite Harry, expected to make his debut on the wing.
The mighty Elephants go into the clash six points behind Mansfield, so a defeat could leave them marooned in the lower reaches of the table – especially after Coalville’s shock win over Stamford on Saturday.
Cooke is also hopeful that Town’s fans will turn out in numbers to cheer his side on, as they bid to make their home ground a fortress in 2016.
