Oundle refuse to give up hope of staying up
OUNDLE are refusing to give up hope of salvaging their Premier Division status despite facing a mammoth task on their very own judgement day this Saturday.
OUNDLE are refusing to give up hope of salvaging their Premier Division status despite facing a mammoth task on their very own judgement day this Saturday.Danny Clifton's men required two points from their final four games to leap above Crowland and send the Lincs lads down.
But Oundle have suffered a hat-trick of defeats, including a 4-0 reverse at Pinchbeck at the weekend, and now have to beat second-placed Hampton in their final match of the season on Saturday to avoid the drop.
It is a huge ask for a struggling side but Clifton is remaining upbeat. He said: "We have one chance left. It is still not over and it is still in our own hands.
"The odds are now stacked firmly against us, but we have won away at top sides like Moulton Harrox and AFC Fletton, so we know we can do it again.
"This really is judgement day for us and it is the time when we will either do or die.
"The result is not a fair reflection of the game at Pinchbeck, but their first two goals were down to errors and we have to cut them out.
"We need to concentrate on getting the basics right at both ends – taking chances at one and not giving away goals at the other."
Oundle will have to save themselves the hard way as Clifton is already without five key men on Saturday.
Striker Ian Bradbury is banned, keeper James Chambers is playing cricket and Clifton, Marc Saunders and Mark Thomas are all out injured.
The team are only bottom due to being hit by a four-point deduction for an administration error before Clifton even arrived in November.
He added: "The previous manager signed a lad on using a signing-on form from last season.
"It is hardly crime of the century and the lad concerned only made one appearance for the club in an 11-0 drubbing by Whittlesey.
"But rules and rules and we can have no complaints. We need to do the business on the pitch on Saturday."
Oundle were in contention at Pinchbeck until falling 2-0 down in the final quarter. Ben Allen claimed a hat-trick for the hosts who showed their visitors no mercy.
Pinchbeck boss Tony Wells said: "We are not in the business of doing other teams favours. There is no room for sympathy in football and all we are interested in is winning as many games as we can to finish as high as possible in the table.
"It was a very tight game until we got our second goal but Oundle then had to go for it which allowed us to capitalise on the gaps they left."
MOULTON Harrox boss Paul Kent will consider his future after what he called 'a season of under-achievement'.
Harrox were agonisingly pipped to the Premier Division title and also lost the PFA Senior Cup final last season, but their bid to make amends by grabbing honours in the current campaign didn't go to plan.
Harrox can finish third at best after ending their campaign with a 2-1 home loss at the hands of depleted Leverington on Saturday.
Kent, who forms a three-man management team with Paul Crowson and Barry Page, said: "I'm not really sure what the future holds at the moment and I will take a couple of weeks to consider whether or not I carry on.
"I am not in a nine-to-five line of work and can often get bogged down during the week, plus there is a bit of interest in taking over from outside the club as well.
"This season has been one of under-achievement. We were hit by a lot of injuries early on which didn't help, but we got ourselves into contention and then threw it away again.
"Leverington had two shots in 90 minutes on Saturday and they both whistled into the top corner, but that summed our season up as we have slipped up at home far too many times."
Everything that could go wrong for Leverington did on Saturday . . . . until the second half when Alan Bird and Stuart Layton hit 20-yard rockets that earned them the points.
Boss Wayne Garner, still feeling the effects of playing 90 minutes for the first time in ages, said: "We had a few lads unavailable because there was a wedding on in the village.
"Then I had a couple more drop out ill on Saturday morning, so we went with only 12 players – one of whom is a 17 year-old lad from the A team.
"Then after 10 minutes Martin Ryan pulled his hamstring and I had to send the young lad, Will Neale, on but he did tremendously as did the rest of the players – especially Steve Barnes back at his old club.
"It is never a nice experience going to Moulton at full-strength, let alone with such a weakened side, but we did ever so well to get a really pleasing result."
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Weather for Peterborough
Wednesday 17 March 2010
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