Needham Market boss Kevin Horlock labels Long Eaton United stalemate ‘frustrating’ despite better position in promotion race

Needham Market boss Kevin Horlock admitted their stalemate away at relegation-threatened Long Eaton United on Saturday was ‘frustrating’ as his title-chasing side look to get back to winning ways with two home games in the next week.

The point, which saw them keep their 18th clean sheet in the league this campaign, actually saw the Marketmen extend their advantage at the top of the Pitching In Southern League Premier Central table to five points with a game in hand, following second-placed Mickleover not being in action. Needham now have nine games remaining.

“It’s another away point and another clean sheet. Obviously, it’s frustrating. I think we had enough chances to probably win, but we looked a little bit edgy, we snatched at some chances and didn’t hit the target enough,” said Horlock, speaking to the club’s media team after the draw.

“It’s frustrating, of course, but I think we need to keep a level head on it.

“We’ve come away from home, albeit to a team that obviously looks like they’re going to go down, but we’re the team top of the table and everyone seems to raise the games against us. We’ve got to carry that tag with us.

“Hopefully, it’s a lesson learned in games like that. You need to be composed and calm and not get jittery. Obviously, that would result in a calmer finish and got us a goal, but it wasn’t to be.”

Needham were without skipper and centre-half Keiran Morphew on Saturday, which Horlock labelled as ‘not ideal’ as he said his captain has been an ‘unbelievable player’ for his side this year and ‘probably one of the best’.

The Marketmen were also forced to substitute off defender Jake Dye in the first half with an injury at the weekend.

“I think he’s (Dye) going to go on for an x-ray, so fingers crossed it’s not as bad as we first feared,” said the Needham boss.

“We’ll see where we are. Obviously, we’ve got a rest in terms of no match midweek and we can recuperate. All guns blazing, we’ve got two home games coming up.”

Horlock was keen to stress after Saturday’s point that there are ‘no easy games’ in the division, but the Marketmen could extend their lead at the summit over the next week with back-to-back matches coming up at Bloomfields.

The first test comes in the form of 13th-placed Barwell on Saturday (3pm) before the visit of third-placed Redditch on Tuesday, who are currently 10 points behind Needham (7.45pm).