‘I have been told this next 10 games will sort the men from the boys’ - Linnets boss

Ryan Jarvis is facing a three-game suspension following his red card against Boston United Picture: Ian Burt (Image: Copyrighted)

The Linnets boss mapped out Lynn's games in blocks of 10 during pre-season planning.

Blocks one and two have passed, with block three beginning with a Boxing Day derby victory over Boston United at The Walks - leaving Lynn three points clear of York City at the top of the table, with a game in hand.

Defying the odds has become the norm - as has Culverhouse's reluctance to look too far ahead, although keeping a lid on his ambitions will become more and more difficult the longer this unexpected success - in some quarters at least - continues.

The Boxing Day win perfectly teed up Block Three.

"It is massive," he said. "We have cut the season into blocks of 10 and this is our third block of 10, so to start off with three points is massive. So we have nine to go now and the way we are going is unbelievable and what we are doing is fantastic for this football club, above and beyond at times of pulling results out, and we are enjoying it."

But Culverhouse's twist is one not of possible promotion, but of relegation avoidance.

"I have been told this next 10 games will sort the men from the boys," he said. "We have achieved the objective at the start of the season of staying in the league, we have enough points to stay up. That is one ticked off. Now this next 10 games will define where we are going to be and if we come out at the right end of it after 10, still in touch, we will give it a go until the end.

"We have nothing to lose, there is no pressure on us, we are fighting well above our weight."

Culverhouse will lose Ryan Jarvis to a three-match ban after the New Year's day trip to Boston and, with injuries having already stretched his resources to the limit, has his eyes on a couple of potential recruits.

"We will look, but like I have always said, it has to be the right fit," he said.

"We have a couple of targets written down, we have spoken to a couple and it is just getting permission from the chairman. We will sit down in the next week or two and see what we can do.

"At the end of the day this group will go on. If we don't bring anyone in and we don't lose anyone, you have seen what they have done for 20-odd games and they will go again because that is the beauty of this group, but if we can help them and bring in a couple of people to help the squad it is only going to benefit them."