Hood must dig out results, says Lightbourne
The gap may be wide but Robin Hood coach Kyle Lightbourne is confident his team can get something from tonight’s Premier Division match with leaders Devonshire Cougars at the Rec.Hood, bottom of the standings and six points from safety, face an uphill battle to survive but Lightbourne will be challenging his players to show the fighting spirit that earned them a surprise victory over North Village in the FA Cup last weekend, despite going a goal down after just three minutes.“We all know what position we’re in, it’s just down to players being unavailable and every week we’ve got a different team,” said Lightbourne who played his first match for Hood last weekend which makes him ineligible to play again for the Corona League team.“Tomorrow I know we’re going to have one or two players from last week unavailable and that’s been the story of the season, but we need to dig out results. A couple of games I can think of, like the first game we played against North Village in the league where I felt we should have got a draw out of that at least, and also the game against Somerset.“We’re playing against the top team in the division and they’re going to look to keep their good run going and it’s going to be a tough game for us. The players who play are going to have to be at their best. We can’t afford to concede early like we did against North Village, which makes it easy for the opponents.”Seven matches remain in the league season and before the second half of the campaign began, Lightbourne had set a target of five wins. They have already lost twice in 2013 to drop to the bottom of the table where they trail St George’s from a point with Wolves a further five points ahead in the safety spot. Cougars, on the other hand, are setting the pace at the top where they hold a three-point lead over defending champions Dandy Town.“One of my players is away on work commitment and he’s not going to be available so that makes our squad a little thinner,” said Lightbourne. “We’ve got four players over the age of 40 and that is what has happened to us this year. But we still stand a chance, we have to pick up points.“I set a target of trying to win five games in the second half and we lost the first two games so realistically five is a tough ask out of seven games, but stranger things happen in football. We are still in the FA Cup which gives us something to play for.”Lightbourne is likely to feature again in tonight’s match as he joins in the relegation fight. “I’ve been resisting it and didn’t get my player’s card until about two weeks before that (Village game),” he revealed.“I guess I’ll take some part in the game tomorrow. St George’s have picked up points in their last two games and are thinking they can get out of it. For us we definitely have to get something out of tomorrow’s game.“One good thing is after tomorrow night we have one game away and the rest are at home. Having said that the teams like playing at BAA because the surface is a good surface to play on.”Tonight’s opening match will see First Division leaders St David’s looking to extend their seven-point lead over Hamilton Parish when they take on second-from-bottom Paget at 7pm. St David’s suffered a setback in their last outing when they lost at home to Devonshire Colts, but they remain favourites to grab one of the promotion spots.Cougars take on Hood at 9pm.
