Shinn hopes that Wongers' hard work will now pay off

Andrew Shinn says the Horncastle Town squad have been putting in the extra work in the hope that they can hit the ground running when they return to action this Saturday.

The Wongers haven’t played since December 16’s 5-3 defeat to Ruston Sports.

And with the weekend’s fixture at CGB Humbertherm postponed due to a waterlogged pitch, they will finally resume action on Saturday as they host fellow table-toppers Nettleham (KO 2pm).

Last season was Shinn and joint boss Mickey Stones’ first in charge of the squad and, after their Christmas break, Town fell off the pace, losing four of their next five matches.

But player-boss Shinn says the squad have been working hard to ensure history doesn’t repeat itself.

“Last year was our first year. We were inexperienced and thought we’d give the lads a bit of a break,” he said.

“But it doesn’t work like that.

“You need to keep going or you slow down, not just physically but mentally as well. And that’s just as important.

“You can’t just turn up and expect it to be the same as the last time you played.

“We’ve been training well and we’ve had eyes on the lads as well.

“They’ve been doing their own things, running and that, which is good.”

Shinn says training - including Saturday’s session, arranged after their postponement - have been put to good use as they try to iron out a few bumps.

“We’ve had some good sessions and worked on a few things, like set-pieces and trying not to concede as many goals,” added Shinn, who plays in the back four alongside assistant boss Nathan Rawdon.

“We’ve shipped eight goals in the last two games and that’s not good enough.

“We’ve had me and Nath playing at left back and right back so maybe we need to look at ourselves a bit as well.

“But we want to try to cut that out because we can’t keep letting goals in like that.”

Reflecting on the weekend’s postponement at Humbertherm, Shinn added: “It’s frustrating as we were looking forward to getting back playing again.

“We were looking at the fixtures the other day. We’ve got a tough couple of months coming up and we’d rather get the games played.

“But it is what it is and we’ll just try to make sure we’re right for the game when it is played.”

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