Boss Leese is seeking big bank holiday points haul for Poppies

The Poppies stopped the rot last weekend as they halted a three-game losing streak at the start of the Southern League Premier Central campaign by coming from behind twice to earn a 2-2 draw with Halesowen Town at Latimer Park.

Debutants Will Mellors-Blair, from the penalty spot, and Dan Jarvis were on target as Leese’s team picked up their first point of the campaign.

A busy few days now lie ahead with a trip to Redditch United on Saturday being followed by a home clash against St Ives Town at Latimer Park on Monday (3pm kick-off).

And Leese said: “We will be looking for maximum points and we have to given the start we’ve had.

“But there are no straightforward games in this league and Redditch will be tough.

“They had a great win on the road last Saturday (4-0 at AFC Sudbury) and they have had a decent start.

“The 4G pitch doesn’t bother us, we train on one during the week so we will be used to that.

“St Ives will also be a tough game, they had a good season last time out and they have an experienced manager.

“It’s a tough weekend because of the quick turnaround but we have already been through that once this season.

“We will just have to be careful with it and we will certainly have to utilise the squad.”

The Poppies have been without striker Sam Bennett for the last two games while defender Lewis White was also ruled out of last weekend’s draw with Halesowen.

But Leese is cautiously optimistic both will be back in action at some point over the bank holiday weekend.

“I am 90 per cent sure we will see them over the weekend,” he added.

“Sam had a dead leg and a knock on his knee. The dead leg has cleared but there is still a bit of pain around his knee.

“Lewis picked up an injury to his knee at Barwell, which limited his movement but these guys do heal quickly and I am pretty confident we will see them over the weekend.”