King’s Lynn Town manager Tommy Widdrington has not yet given up on winning the National League North title, despite rivals AFC Fylde showing little sign of slipping up.
The Coasters hold a five-point lead over the Linnets at the summit following Tuesday night’s 1-0 at The Walks, but crucially have two games in hand.
But Widdrington, whose side travel to Hereford on Saturday, is refusing to throw in towel just yet, insisting that the title is very much still up for grabs between now and the end of the season.
The Lynn boss said: “At the end of the day we haven’t given up. We still believe we can win the league, we’ve got no qualms about that.
“Let’s have a look back – at the beginning of the season Fylde lost three or four games on the spin so you know it can happen.
“It’s a long way from over. How many times do you see a marathon runner come round that corner at Buckingham Palace and fall over the line? It can happen.”
While the Linnets now face two away fixtures on the bounce, the Coasters have three home games on the horizon.
And Widdrington still believes that Fylde’s punishing fixture schedule could still take its toll on the league leaders.
“They’re going to have a tougher schedule because of the Easter weekend coming up,” he said.
“They’re going to have to play Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday, Tuesday, Friday and Monday so it’s swings and roundabouts.
“At the end of the day onc 46 games are played the best team over the 46 games will be top of the league, it’s as simple as that.
“Right now, they are sitting on top of the place and it looks to anybody that they are favourites, of course they are.
“But they have got tough games between now and the end of the season like we have.
“Let’s be honest, both sides are where they are because they’ve been the most consistent up until now and we’ve got to try to keep it on.”
Widdrington’s next job is to pick his weary players up for Saturday’s trip to the Bulls.
“I will analyse the game as we always do and pick up on the points where I think we can be slightly better,” he said.
“Goals win games and they (Fylde) got one and we didn’t so I’ve got to take that on my rather big chin.
“That’s my job and it started with the chat we’ve just had in there. I won’t lose any faith or trust in the players we have here and I have to pick them up.
“Some of them will be physically and mentally on the floor because it’s not something we’re used to doing here.
“So from that point of view we’ve got to refresh as quickly as we can and use the group intelligently because it’s no secret that we have six lads out at the minute, of which three of four of them were mainstays of the team before Christmas.
“And one or two who we’ve got on the bench have missed so much football that they’re not capable of playing 90 minutes so that’s why there’s a lot of chopping and changing and I’m not one of those who want to keep changing the team a lot.”
