Maltby boss: ‘We can beat the drop’

Dunn, in his first season in charge at Muglet Lane, led Maltby to a 2-1 victory over Hall Road Rangers and a three-point safety buffer in the league table.

Main sit on seven points from nine games following the win, and Dunn believes maintaining the NCEL Premier status is an achievable aim this season.

“We’ll just take every game as it comes,” he told the Guardian.

“Survival is the aim and then we can push on next season.”

“We’re aiming to finish ahead of the relegation places, and anything towards midtable is a bonus. I don’t see why we can’t, with the squad we have.”

Two goals from Adam Houghton sealed the points on Wednesday, and the teenager’s ability to finish was something Main had been lacking.

Dunn said: “In the last few games we’ve defended quite well but not looked too good going forward.”

“Adam is a young lad, he’s only 19, and he’s been in and out of the side, getting chances but not taking them.”

“But he just needed a couple of goals to get going and he did that on Wednesday.”

Maltby host 10th-placed Tadcaster Albion on Saturday, before a trip to Heanor Town on Wednesday.

Looking ahead to the home game, Dunn was predicting a difficult outing for his men.

“It will be a tough game,” he said.

“We’re not expecting too much against the top teams, we just need to start beating the teams around us.”

“It’s been difficult with a high turnover of players and trying to get a settled side, but we’re starting to get there now.”