Lions looking up despite fixture pile-up

The Lions sit sixth in the Midlands Football League Premier Division following Saturday’s 2-1 victory over Lye Town.

That win was a third in the space of five days after seeing off Stourport Swifts on Monday and Westfields on Wednesday.

Heanor are four points behind fifth-placed Sporting Khalsa with a game in hand ahead of a hectic final 10 days of the season.

The Lions are scheduled to play six times in that period in a fixture pile-up which leaves more questions than answers for manager Paul Postlethwaite.

“It’s galvanised them so far,” said Postlethwaite. “I was talking to the physio about how we get them through it, he’s a great physio, and his comeback was ‘you can’t’.

“We can’t get lads through Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday night and not expect something to happen so it’s an honest dressing room where they’re going to have to put their hand up and say if they’re struggling.

“At the moment they’re not putting their hands up and saying they’re struggling because they all want to play, which is fantastic. We’re turning sides out, which is our aim.

“A fortnight ago our aim was to turn sides out and we’re turning performances in with it, so I’m chuffed to bits.”

Saturday’s 2-1 win over Lye Town came thanks to two goals from Jamie Sleigh.

“The lads looked tired for the first 20 minutes then we probably had 30 or 40 minutes of quality football then we did sit back,” said Postlethwaite.

“We were tired. We tried to get the ball out but it kept coming back. We made one or two changes to try and keep everything fresh but it didn’t work how we thought it would do.

“But we were dogged. That’s a great word. It’s been a dogged last half an hour. We limited them to a few chances and we got a dogged win.”

The return fixture with Stourport awaits on Tuesday night before home games with Long Eaton United and Coleshill Town on Wednesday and Thursday.

Sporting Khalsa are the opponents for an away game on Saturday before a home match against Shepshed Dynamo on 2nd May and a last day trip to Haughmond on 3rd May.

First team coach Richard Eadie said: “One thing we did say to them was if we won today (Saturday) it wouldn’t be the first team all season we’ve won five on the spin.

“Somehow, if we can get four results next week, who knows? We’ve done five with the busy fixture schedule at the minute.

“Let’s try and finish as high up in the league as we can and get in the top five or top four.”