Poppies must show the right attitude at Gosport

The Poppies head to the south coast knowing a win will see them move into third place in the Evo-Stik South League Premier.

Kettering secured their play-off place thanks to a 4-1 win over Hitchin Town at the weekend as top scorer Aaron O’Connor hit all four goals.

The sides finishing second and third will have home advantage in the play-off semi-finals and the Poppies could take a huge step towards securing a top-three finish with victory tonight before they host fellow promotion contenders Weymouth in a huge game at Latimer Park on Thursday night.

But first they must get past Gosport, who have won just two games all season.

And while he knows his team will be heavy favourites to come home with maximum points, assistant-manager Austin knows the Poppies must have the right “mindset”.

“These are the tricky ones,” he said.

“What you don’t want to do is after a good performance against a strong outfit like Hitchin is go there and think that Gosport are a gimme.

“We can’t travel down there being so sure of ourselves. We have to stick to our principles and our work-rate.

“It’s very important that the mindset is right. It’s a long journey but we will prepare properly and we will treat Gosport like we would treat anyone else.

“It’s a cliche but every game now leading up to what we want to do is a cup final.”