There will be no inferiority complex shown by Spalding RFC when they visit Midlands Two East (North) pace-setters Dronfield on Saturday (2.15pm).
Town, who are 11th, go into the clash some 22 points behind the leaders.
But Dronfield are only top because Spalding upset previous leaders Stamford a few weeks before Christmas – and skipper Sam Cooke insists that confidence is sky-high at the Memorial Field.
The mighty Elephants may have suffered a heavy 76-7 Lincs Cup loss against Scunthorpe last weekend (see page 38), but Cooke felt his side did all they could against a team ranked two levels higher than them in the Midlands ladder.
“Everyone at the club is feeling very positive as we begin 2016,” said the Spalding captain. “It’s refreshing, last year was mainly doom and gloom.
“We’ll not read anything into the Scunthorpe game, they brought a full strength squad to our place. There was never really much chance of us upsetting them.
“They are full of confidence themselves and punished every mistake we made.
“I did think we battled well and it’ll stand us in good stead for the Dronfield game.
“If memory serves me right, we had them on the ropes at our place before eventually losing.
“We’ll be looking for more of the same this time, the two wins at the end of last year have really changed the mood at the club.”
Victory over Dronfield, who won the reverse 30-21 back in September, could see Spalding climb a few places in the table.
They’re just six points behind Mansfield, Coalville and Melbourne and are looking up the table for the first time in months.
Cooke is still eyeing a mid-table finish and is confident that they can start the year with a good string of results.
He added: “I’ve always said that being somewhere from fifth to tenth is the aim. It’s nice to know that we can now start climbing the table with wins.
“We’ve got some good fixtures coming up, so we’re confident our position will improve sooner rather than later.”
Town will take a strong squad to Derbyshire on Saturday, but they’ll not be able to select Tom Duerden. He impressed in a rare outing against Scunthorpe.
