Newmarket Town ready for ‘massive’ back-to-back Isthmian League North Division encounters against Sporting Bengal United
While there will still be plenty of points left to play for once the games are concluded, Ben Robinson has admitted that Newmarket Town’s next two Isthmian League North Division fixtures are ‘massive’.
After consecutive home wins over Redbridge and Ipswich Wanderers gave the Jockeys’ survival chances a big shot in the arm, they now face back-to-back matches against one of the sides they are looking to chase down.
As it stands Sporting Bengal United are just inside the relegation zone on goal difference, two points ahead of Newmarket going into their clash at the Tristel Global Stadium on Saturday (3pm). And the sides will meet again on Wednesday in a rearranged encounter at the Mile End Stadium (7.45pm).
The versatile Robinson, said: “Winning any game in this league is important but beating the teams around you is really important.
“Would you call these games six-pointers? Maybe not because there is still plenty of games to go afterwards, but they’re definitely massive matches and if you want to progress up the table you’ve got to take points off the teams near you.
“This league is tough – there are no bad sides in it. If you look at Bengal, they had a really close result against (top-of-the-table) Felixstowe at the weekend (3-2 defeat), which shows how hard it is.
“We’ve done ok against the teams around us so far – hopefully that continues at the weekend.”
Unlike many of his team-mates, Robinson is no stranger to Step 4 football from past stints with AFC Sudbury and Cambridge City.
However, this is the strongest that he has seen the level – and its unforgiving nature has been laid out in some of Newmarket’s dropped points.
They have found themselves with the lead – sometimes by as many as three goals – against the likes of Redbridge, Tilbury, Brightlingsea Regent and Bury Town, yet none of those contests returned victories.
“I’ve played the level before and this is definitely the hardest I’ve known it,” added the 31-year-old, who has been playing as the central figure in a back three over recent weeks.
“A lot of the boys haven’t played it before and we’re seeing that the jump from Step 5 to 4 is huge.
“It’s not just the level of players, but also the finances of some of the clubs that we’re coming up against.
“But there’s no doubt we could be higher in the league and our position feels a bit false with the performances we’ve put in.
“It’s a mindset thing at times. At this level, two or three goals can feel like a cushion but teams can bring on players off the bench that change games.
“And when you concede a goal, sometimes you can think ‘not again’ and it plays on the team’s mind.
“But we’re competing and we’ve shown against the likes of Tilbury and Bury – two really established teams – that we’re a good side at this level. We should have won both of those games on the day.
“I’ll always be biased towards Newmarket but we’ve also had opposition managers praise the way we play, so we know we belong here.
“We’ve won the last two games which has helped with confidence so hopefully that shows we’re starting to get the results we deserve.”
