Trophy chat is put on hold

Hungerford's top priority is clash at Dunstable

CHESTER CHAT has been banned at
Hungerford until Town’s promotion chasers can get away from the slightly less attractive, but rather more important
surroundings of Dunstable.
That looming FA Trophy Third Round tie on January 16 offers a taste of something different, but it is the ‘bread and butter’ of league work that most concerns manager Bobby Wilkinson, whose side has played only one league game in a month.
“We’ve played one league game since December 8, but we’re still in the play-offs,” he said.
“But we could be ninth, 10th, 11th or 12th if we don’t keep playing and even if we have three or four games in hand it would be difficult to win them all to make up the gap.
“We’re training hard, but we want games while we’re in this sort of form.”
Hungerford’s stuttering programme still leaves them unbeaten in 13, but Dunstable lie in wait, on the brink of the play-offs themselves with another of those hopefuls - Biggleswade Town - first up in the league after the Chester trip.
“That’s why we won’t talk about Chester until after the Dunstable game,” said Wilkinson, “We’ll enjoy it, don’t get me wrong, and it’s something different. But we want to go to Chester knowing that we’re OK in the league.”
The lack of action forced Wilkinson to arrange a hasty game with the club’s under 21s and Newbury’s threatened Faraday Road ground on Tuesday night.
“We can’t thank them and Keith Moss enough for giving us the chance to play on a superb surface at this time of year, said Wilkinson.
“It’s an absolute disgrace that they are
considering pulling it all down when they have a facility like that.”
Hungerford’s players took advantage to record a 12-0 win although Wilkinson was full of praise for the youngsters. “The scoreline meant nothing,” he said, “they played well and really pushed us and were in our faces.
Stefan Brown was also given a 15-minute run-out on his return from injury to return to a full-strength squad.