​Skegness all set for exciting double-header

​The Lilywhites go to Loughborough Students on Saturday, who sit one place and one point behind Skegness in the play-off zone, with a game in hand.

That will then be followed by a Lincolnshire Senior Trophy semi-final at Boston Town next Tuesday night.

And starting with Saturday’s challenge, Rawlinson says it provides a great opportunity for his side to cement their top five spot even further.

He said: “Loughborough is a really important game for us given our ambitions. We’ve given ourselves a little bit of leeway, but having said that, if we’re able to go to a place and get a win where Loughborough have won their last six or seven home games, that really would cement our place.

"There’s no reason why we can’t. We’ve got a couple of injuries and a suspension but equally we’ve got lads coming back to fitness and we hope to get a new player through the door as well.

" It’s a chance to put some distance between ourselves and the teams directly below us, but we have to be mindful of Loughborough’s strengths and the way they play, as well as their fitness with them almost being a full-time outfit.”

On Tuesday’s semi-final, Rawlinson says there is a determination to go one better in the competition than last season.

He said: “It’ll be a mouth-watering local derby in the semi-final. Boston beat us on Boxing Day and the lads are still smarting from that as we didn’t play at our best.

"The lads are desperate to get to a final as we got knocked out in the semi-final last year, so it’s really important for us to get there and give the lads something to definitely look forward to towards the end of the season.

"So it’s a big week for the club but this is exactly where we want to be.”

Last weekend’s home game with AFC Mansfield fell victim to the wet weather, with Rawlinson adding: “It was slightly disappointing not to have a game, but we’ve done quite well this season in that we’ve only had two called off and the pitch really was underwater on Friday so it was the sensible thing to do.

"Hopefully the league can fit Mansfield back in on a Saturday so they’ll not have that journey in midweek. We trained instead and had a really good session."