Brown not focused on table

The Dolly Blues are just two points shy of the summit in fourth place in the NPL First Division North ahead of Hyde United visiting Giant Axe on Saturday.

But with five games in hand on leaders Scarborough Athletic, Brown is not paying too much attention to the standings at this stage.

“Scarborough were top then they dropped to sixth or seventh and then went back top again,” said the Blues manager.

“It’s happened with other teams too. There’s are lots of teams that are in contention for the play-offs and to go top of the table.

“The teams who have got games in hand need to make them count – things are chopping and changing every week.

“I’m not ignoring the league table but I’m also not too concerned about us being top at the moment.

“I just need to see us on a points tally that means we’re in amongst it.”

The Hyde clash will be the first game for the Blues in 11 days after last Saturday’s home clash against Radcliffe Borough was postponed.

“We’ve played a lot of away games recently,” Brown said. “We were structured, with cups and everything, to have just one in seven at home.

“So we were looking forward to the little run we were going to have at Giant Axe, not just in terms of playing but also financially.

“It’s just difficult to build momentum.

“We’re looking forward to this weekend and I don’t foresee any problems with the weather.

“It looks like it’s warming up and we’ve got new fleece covers for the pitch. Hopefully there’ll be no repeat.”

City won 2-1 on Hyde’s 4G Ewan Fields surface back in September with Brown expecting another tough examination of his side this weekend.

“They were very good for the first 45 minutes at their place and we were lucky to be in the game at 1-0 at 
half-time,” he said.

“But in the second half we managed to get a couple of goals and got the three points.

“I said at the time it epitomised what we’re about, staying in games, never giving up and getting over the line.

“There’s been a bit of a change around in the playing staff since then with a few coming in.

“It’ll be a tough game but they’re not on the 4G and it will be interesting to see how different that is for them.

“They’ve picked up in recent weeks but we’re at home and on the front foot.”