PETERSFIELD Town manager Ian Saunders believes his side’s long trip to St Ives Town tomorrow has taken on an extra importance following their disappointing midweek setback.
The Rams were well beaten at Aylesbury on Tuesday night and that 4-0 loss dented the confidence flowing through the side following the excellent 4-1 victory over Potters Bar Town the previous week.
Saunders says it is absolutely crucial now that his side go to Cambridgeshire and pick up three points in the context of how the rest of the season could pan out for the Rams.
“We just weren’t at it at all on Tuesday night and we can have few complaints about the result at Aylesbury,” explained Saunders.
“Why that was I’m unsure – whether it was because it was a long midweek away trip for the players and it was the prospect of getting home in the early hours of the morning or whether we just had ‘one of those days’ where nothing went right I don’t know.
“What was disappointing was if we were on our game and did things the right way in terms of our play on the night, then we are fully capable of beating Aylesbury.
“Looking at the league table we now have 16 games left this season and we are just five points short of the initial 40 points target we set ourselves at the start of the campaign.
“I want us to get past that target as soon as possible and once we have done that we can look ahead, still with over a dozen games to play and try and see where a good run would take us.
“That is why we need to go to St Ives aiming to get the three points so we can build some momentum again and keep looking to push forwards.”
The 257-mile round trip to the Cambridgeshire town represents Petersfield’s longest away day of the season and their hosts are currently sitting in the play-off positions, 19 points ahead of the Rams.
Petersfield enjoyed a 2-0 win when the two sides met at Love Lane in October thanks to second half goals from Joe Briggs and Lewis Hyde.
Saunders is hopeful Hyde will be back in his squad after recovering from a hamstring injury.