Rallying call: Darren Holmes says bottom-placed Nostell need a win urgently in the next five or six games
It is not “make or break” just yet, but Darren Holmes admits that Nostell Miners Welfare need to start winning sooner rather than later as they prepare to return ‘home’.
Nostell will play at Crofton for the first time this season after a major pitch renovation meant they had to play their first ten Toolstation NCEL Premier Division games away from home.
All Nostell have to show so far is two draws, at Garforth and Liversedge, and Holmes’ men are bottom of the table.
Welfare will welcome Cleethorpes Town to Crofton tomorrow and Holmes has a big boost as Ossett Albion striker Dale Kelly is expected to make his debut.
Holmes is refusing to describe the Cleethorpes as a must-win game, but admits that his side are in desperate need of a first victory
“We just have to stay in touch with the teams above us and beat the teams in and around us and keep picking points,” he told Non League Yorkshire.
“We have to keep going.
“There is the danger that we may get stranded. As long as you’re one win away from getting off the bottom or a couple of wins of climbing up the table like we are, you’re not.
“We don’t want to get stranded so we need wins and we need them quick.
“Saturday is going to be a tough game as Cleethorpes are a good side.
“Saturday’s game won’t decided our season. The next dozen or so games will decide our season.
“I’m not going to pick one game and say ‘this is make or break’ because it is not about that.
“We have a run of home games and we need to get points from them otherwise we are going to be struggling for the rest of the season.”
Most of Nostell’s defeats have been narrow defeats – the only team to dish out a hammering on them was Handsworth Parramore last month.
Holmes believes his Nostell side have been unlucky and he said: “Just about every game this season we have come away thinking we could have got something, apart from the Parramore game.
“Unfortunately the league does not lie. We are at the bottom of the table with two points, but we have played every game away from home which has been really difficult.
“I knew the first four games would be key and that if we got any points out of those games, our season would have snowballed from there.
“Like last year we got a few points after Christmas and things did start to pick up. We are just missing that one win or two wins on the bounce that will start our season.
“It has been tough.
“Liversedge scored in the last minute, Garforth scored in the last minute and we thought we were going to get something at Maltby on the first day.
“We were also 2-1 up against Tadcaster at half-time.
“We should have seven or eight points on the board, but we haven’t and we are struggling at the bottom of the league.”
The travelling has also taken its toll and Holmes said: “It has been difficult picking the players up (from defeats away from home).
“We have had some long trips and it is difficult to recruit players knowing that you have to play ten or 11 games away from home.
“We have had some good training sessions on a Tuesday and we had some where the lads are really down and it is going to be difficult to keep picking the lads up.
“Hopefully with the home games now we can do that and get some results.
“It has got to happen.
“The next five or six games are key. We have to get some points on the board.”
Losing Danny Critchlow to Handsworth was also a blow, but the arrival of Kelly does soften it for Nostell.
Kelly has a good record at Ossett from the last few seasons and Holmes added: “Dale has Evo Stik experience and he has played in Ossett’s first team this year.
“He’s a big lad who will hold the ball up for us and he will score goals.”
The referee for Nostell’s clash with Cleethorpes is Colin Whitaker.