The stakes are high as Corby head to Marine

The Steelmen head to the north-west for the first part of a crucial double-header against their fellow strugglers in the Evo-Stik Northern Premier League Premier Division with Marine making the return trip to Steel Park on Saturday.

And the stakes couldn’t be much higher.

As it stands, Corby are in the place immediately above the relegation zone with goal difference keeping them above Frickley Athletic with seven games to go.

Marine sit a point and a place above the Steelmen from one match less, making the next two games so crucial in the fight for survival.

With Frickley not in action, it’s an opportunity for both clubs to open up a gap between themselves and the drop-zone.

But Mills is feeling relaxed as his team continue to plot a great escape from a second successive relegation, having been 12 points adrift of safety after they lost 4-0 at Grantham Town on Boxing Day.

And the Corby boss insists his team are only finding themselves in big games because of the fine run of form they have enjoyed since the turn of the year.

“If you had offered me this position immediately after the 4-0 defeat at Grantham on Boxing Day then I would have taken it,” Mills said.

“These games are only big because we have made them big. If we had carried on the way we were then these matches would not have meant much.

“So we will enjoy the pressure as we have that on us because we have done something right.

“The bigger the game, the better and I would much rather be in the situation we are in now than the alternative.

“We will go and there and do what we always try to do and that is to get on the front foot and try to win the game.

“They are at home so the onus will be on them to come out and have a go at us but we will be ready and do all we can to get a positive result.”

The Steelmen will have late checks on Jason Lee, Stefan Moore and Miles Smith who are all struggling with hamstring injuries following the 3-0 defeat at Barwell on Saturday.