Kimberley MW 'must take one match at a time' in title pursuit

The Miners are three points behind the unbeaten league leaders Hinckley with a game in hand, although their rivals have a superior goal difference.

The two teams face each other on April 2 in Hinckley, but that game and others are far from Furnell’s mind as Kimberley prepare to visit second-from-bottom Blackstones on Saturday.

He said: “We are still only looking at one game at a time and there’s no talk of anything beyond the team were facing on the day.

“Those around us are doing enough talking for everyone so we'll carry on looking after our own business and see where it takes us.

"Saturday is a long trip to Blackstones [based in Stamford] and they’ve brought in a new management team and a host of new players, picking up some good results and especially at home, so we have to be on our game and come away with the points.

"We have a fully fit and available squad to chose from so will send a couple of the squad in with the reserves to get valuable minutes.”

Last weekend saw the Miners run out 7-1 winners against Holwell Sports in a match switched to the 3G surface of Ilkeston Town’s New Manor Ground.

Luis Rose and Sacha Markelic both scored twice, with other goals from Aaron Coyle and subs Bijan Pakrouz and Ben Sandhu.

Furnell said: “Firstly we have to give credit our forwarding-thinking ground staff and committee for having the foresight to suggest getting the game switched to Ilkeston.

"Secondly we'd like to thank Ilkeston for letting us use the fantastic facilities at the NMG to get the game on to ensure we managed to keep momentum.

"The pitch is of FIFA standard & the message to the players was if we can't play our expansive football on this then something’s wrong.

"It’s not a new surface to us as we've been lucky enough to have trained on it a few times and we have a few teams in our league who have 3G.

“The boys really relished playing in the surroundings and with a few Ilkeston fans cheering them on it was a good performance.”