Smith Looks Towards Vital January Ahead of Lowestoft Clash ..

Hednesford Town boss Rob Smith has signposted a run of games during January which could make or break his play-off chances as The Pitmen welcome struggling Lowestoft Town to Keys Park on Saturday afternoon, before embarking on a tricky three games in seven days which includes a 320- mile round trip to second-placed Barrow on Tuesday night.

Hednesford then host Chorley, currently occupying fifth place in the table, next Saturday afternoon and then finally travel to North Ferriby United to revoke memories of their famous Northern Premier League title tussle a couple of years ago.

Smith believes that once these next four games have been played, if his Pitmen team are in touching distance of fifth place, the chase is very much on, using last week’s superb win against Harrogate Town as a marker in terms of performance.

‘This really is a make or break period for us. If we come out of this run of games still in touch then all is to play for.

‘Saturday’s performance was the best of the season. I don’t care what anyone says, Harrogate are full of big name players and on the day we were excellent. We had a plan and I can’t commend the players enough on how efficiently they carried it out.’

James Hurst’s fantastic opening goal at Wetherby Road set Hednesford on the way to an important victory but despite going into the game with a rare fully fit squad to choose from, he is keen to bring some new faces in.

‘All the 15 players I have are fully fit but we desperately need more and we are working very hard to make it happen. Hopefully we can add two more to the squad soon.’

Should Hednesford extend their unbeaten run to five games the following three games could really give The Pitmen a solid platform to build on into 2015.