Holwell Sports boss Miller targets 10 points to secure survival... beginning with table toppers Hinckley

Holwell Sports manager Neil Miller believes 10 points will be enough for his side to secure safety - and he wants to begin adding to that tally at the expense of leaders Hinckley AFC.

The table toppers visit Welby Road on Saturday (KO 3pm), with Sports eager to cause an upset.

“They are the in-form team in the league and we’ve got a bit of a task,” Miller said.

“We believe we need 10 points to see us through to next season and want them as soon as possible.

“We know where we want to be turning this around. This is not the season we wanted - our expectations are significantly higher than this - but we need to get those points on the board.”

Holwell - 16th in the table and 11 points clear of the relegation zone - were beaten 1-0 at struggling Blackstones at the weekend, but Miller believes the side have shown enough from that game, and the previous’ week’s 3-2 defeat to third-place Belper United, to show a corner can be turned.

He added: “I would suggest the Belper game and the Blackstones game, you’re most probably scratching your head to figure out how you’ve not taken at least a point from both games, if not more.

“We’ve been guilty of underperforming in recent weeks, however, not the case in those games.

“We missed a penalty on Saturday, we’ve hit the post twice and their keeper’s pulled off numerous fantastic saves.

“That can hurt. However, you need to regroup, take the positives, roll the sleeves up a little bit higher and look ahead.

“I don’t believe we’ve done much wrong to come away from those games with no points. However, we have. We can feel sorry for ourselves or we can kick on.”

Miller’s job is now to get his side firing as they look to stun Hinckley.

“No doubt, you have to lift the changing room. They’re in there trying to understand how they’ve got minimal results from maximum effort - they’ve given me everything.

“We’ve got to pick players up but the caveat is that if players analyse the last two weeks they can say we’re not a million miles away.

“We’re trying to work hard on our consistency and I don’t think the two results have justified the efforts we put in.”