Player/boss Ian Dunn concedes that his Pinchbeck United side have to be considered “odds-on” to win the title after moving ten points clear at the top of ChromaSport UCL Division One last Saturday – but stopped short of saying the job was already done.
The Knights edged out second-placed Raunds Town 1-0 at the Sir Halley Stewart Playing Field on Saturday and are now sitting pretty with just 11 games left.
Next up is a trip to rock-bottom Stewarts and Lloyds Corby on Saturday, who are a massive 62 points worse off than Pinchbeck.
But Dunn is taking nothing for granted, insisting that every team will want to do their best to beat his side.
He said: “Do I think we have one hand on the trophy? No, not really.
“You can always get two or three injuries or suspensions or have bad refereeing decisions going against you.
“We’ve still got some tough games to come and big teams to face. We’d love to go unbeaten until the rest of the season, which we could possibly do if we carry on doing what we’re doing.
“But there’s always that performance – like against Bourne or Huntingdon – there to remind us that we could slip up.
“You’ve got to be realistic. Yes, it’s a fantastic lead and it’d be easy to say we’ve got one hand on the trophy.
“I think it’s ours to lose and the bookies would have us odds-on. But there’s still a long way to go – the other teams will, quite rightly, want to come and beat us.
“If we make a big statement and say we’ve got one hand on the trophy, the players can easily take things for granted and we could go to Corby next week and slip up, because we’re not at the races.
“It’s important that we stay focused on what our goal is and not let our concentration slip by thinking that the job’s done.”
Basement side S & L, who have lost all but one of their 26 games so far this season, will have some additional firepower in their ranks ahead of Pinchbeck’s visit.
They’ve signed 19-goal Michael Byrne from Division One rivals Burton Park Wanderers.
Pinchbeck will have to do without key defender Jack Smith and long-term absentee Luke Gardner.
