Poppies must carry on '˜grinding out' wins

The Poppies returned to winning ways as James Hall’s fine strike gave them a 1-0 success over Kings Langley at Latimer Park on Saturday.

The success moved Kettering up to eighth place in the Evo-Stik Southern League Premier Division table but they remain 12 points off the play-off places with 12 games remaining.

And assistant-boss Ramshaw knows his team are now relying on a big run of wins and major slips from the teams above them if they are to find a way into the top five.

He said: “The games are coming thick and fast and Dunstable won’t be easy.

“They are in a comfortable mid-table position and it is a good playing surface there so hopefully we will get the chance to get it down and play the way we know we are capable of.

“As I have been saying for the past couple of weeks, we just have to keep grinding them out.

“If the teams who are occupying the play-off positions don’t falter then you have to take your hat off to them. But if they do falter then we are waiting in the wings.”

James Brighton missed the weekend win after suffering a knee injury in training last Thursday.

And Ramshaw is hopeful the left-sided player will be available again sooner rather than later.

“James is a massive miss for us because he puts a shift in every time he pulls the shirt on,” Ramshaw added.

“He tweaked his knee last Thursday and it just wasn’t strong enough to warrant playing at the weekend.

“We are hopeful that by next weekend he will be fit to resume his place in the squad.”