Ian Culverhouse wants positive response from King’s Lynn Town players
Ryan Fryatt missed King's Lynn Town's midweek defeat at Hitchin Town Picture: Jamie Honeywood - Credit: Archant
Ian Culverhouse has challenged his King's Lynn Town players to come out fighting when they resume their promotion challenge on Saturday.
Kings Lynn Town will be hoping Frazer Blake-Tracy returns from injury Picture: Matthew Usher
The Linnets boss gave his players a 'stern talking to' after they made a meal of beating Barwell last weekend, but defeat at Hitchin on Tuesday would undoubtedly have prompted some rather sterner messages, given it also ended the unbeaten run at 19 games.
Bur what happens in the dressing room invariably stays there, and the message from Culverhouse on the eve of the trip to St Ives was simple.
'I've got every confidence in that group of players to come out and respond in the right way,' he said.
'We always knew that our run would come to an end at some point as this league doesn't allow you to go unbeaten for a long period of time.
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'I'm sure the players are hurting and will turn up at St Ives and be right at it. It's not a nice place to go and we've got to make sure that we react in the right manner.
'St Ives will play forward quickly and get numbers around the ball and we will have to stand up to that and impose our own game on them.'
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Culverhouse was less than enamoured with his players at Hitchin, where they went down 3-0, without raising much of a whimper.
'It was just the manner how we lost and the players are well aware of that,' he said.
'There were too many players off the pace and we were beaten by the better side who wanted it more than us.'
Culverhouse will be keen to see left-back Frazer Blake-Tracy back from injury and Ryan Fryatt available after illness.
St Ives, like Hitchin, are dangerous opponents – they've won six and drawn five of their last 13 games, including wins over Kettering and Hitchin.
Saints boss Ricky Marheineke said: 'We can look forward to a massive test this Saturday against King's Lynn.
'It's a tough but exciting prospect for our players, our management team and our supporters.
'King's Lynn have one of their strongest squads and best managers in their league and their form is outstanding, but it is a good opportunity to see how far we've come in the last couple of months.'
