Herring outlines crucial period for Crusaders

The Hungerford boss admits the next two games can define season

HUNGERFORD Town manager Ian Herring has expressed how important their next two Vanarama National League South fixtures are as they fight to stay in the division.

The Crusaders suffered a 4-1 home defeat to Welling United on Saturday and now face two crucial games against relegation rivals over the Easter weekend.

A trip to Concord Rangers takes place tomorrow (Good Friday) before Poole Town visit Bulpit Lane on Easter Monday.

Herring, who scored Hungerford’s only goal against Welling, is aware of how big the upcoming fixtures are for the club.

He said: “It’s a massive weekend of football for us – we’ve got to take one game at a time, but our two games over the Easter bank holiday can pretty much define our season.

“So we’ll prepare well and hopefully pick up the points that we desperately need.

“Friday is a big game for us because of how the table looks right now and Monday is just as big.”

The Crusaders remain five points clear of Poole in the final relegation spot and they have a game in hand over their south coast rivals.

Despite Saturday’s heavy defeat, Herring was pleased with his side’s performance, but admitted they should have done more after taking the lead.

He said: “It’s something that we’ve got to address immediately, but the way we started the game going 1-0 up and how we dominated the first half-an-hour made the result more disappointing really.

“We had a lot of opportunities, but we didn’t make the keeper work enough and we probably could have been out of sight early in the game.”

After the Concord clash on Friday, the game against Poole is the first of three consecutive home games for the Crusaders and

Herring believes his side can utilise this to drive them away from the drop zone.

He said: “We have got home advantage, but the games we’re going into and the position that we’re in – every game we play is as big as every other one.”