Peterborough Sports boss thrilled by his players' response to a 'must-win' game.

Gash hammered home a pre-match message about a ‘must-win’ game before Sports took on lowly Bradford Park Avenue at the Bee Arena on Saturday.

And the players didn’t buckle under the pressure. Instead they responded by scoring inside the first minute and then seeing out a scrappy game rather comfortably for a 1-0 win.

A first win in six matches lifted Sports up two places, but the gap to the relegation places is still seven points.

That gap could close on Tuesday night as 22 of the 24 teams in the league have a game. Sports should have been hosting Scarborough Athletic, but their scheduled opponents have a County Cup fixture to fulfil.

"It was a big win for us,” Gash stated. “We sat the players down before kick-off and told them it was simply a game we had to win.

"And fair play to them we started well, got our goal and then defended very well against a team who played it long to a tough centre-forward.

"It was a scrappy game. The pitch didn’t suit passing football, but we played with a lot of commitment and spirit. I was very pleased with them.

"It’s disappointing we are not playing tomorrow as we had given ourselves a little momentum and now we face two tough away games.”

Sports are at mid-table Spennymoor on Saturday and then at high-flying Chester on Tuesday, March 14.

Centre-forward Mark Jones suffered a set-back in training last Thursday and will have a scan on his calf problem on Tuesday.

Sports could seek a replacement if Jones is ruled out for several weeks, although finding a player at this time of the year would be difficult.

"It could be we have to rely on a 36 year-old centre forward again,” Gash quipped.

The veteran fought his way through another 90 minutes on Saturday.