Nicholls tells Halesowen to stick together after tough patch

Second-placed Yeltz have lost two on the bounce and host Chasetown who are in good spirits after a win last weekend.

Nicholls encourages his side to stay united as they look to turn things around with time on their side.

He said: “We’ve got to stick together as a group and we’ve got to be positive. There’s a long way to go in the season, there will be plenty of twists and turns.

“We’ve had a bit of a blip but every team will have a blip and it’s about how quickly you get out of it and how hard you work to improve.”

Nicholls anticipates Chasetown being tough opponents at The Grove with form favouring the away side.

“They’ve got some very good footballers in that group and a good management set-up that knows what they want to do.

“For the fact we’ve lost two games, the lads are confident and they can see where we’ve come unstuck in the last few weeks and they’re ready to rectify that.”

Nicholls apologised to the Yeltz fans this week on Twitter regarding the loss last weekend but he knows they’ll stick with the side, praising the fantastic support.

He said: “The club itself is unbelievable with the amount of fans we get, they’re so positive with us with their support.

“The tweet was to say ‘we know you sacrifice a lot’.

“The result wasn’t acceptable and maybe the performance too.”

He added: “We want to be successful for ourselves and sometimes the pressure of everything gets to the players.

“I’ve said to the players this week about getting rid of everything in their heads and focusing on football.”

Elsewhere, fifth-placed Sporting Khalsa welcome Dereham Town hoping to bounce back from defeat to Spalding United last weekend.

Stafford Rangers host FC United of Manchester in the Northern Premier League as defender Jimmy O’Neill returned for the Boro.

The centre back showed an ‘immediate interest in returning’ according to the club as they look to bounce back from two league defeats in a row.

Kidderminster Harriers will hope for back-to-back wins when they host Gloucester City in the National League North.

The 11th-placed Harriers came from behind to beat AFC Telford 2-1 on Tuesday with late goals from Zak Brown and Ethan Freemantle who grabbed the winner.

In the Southern League Premier Division Central bottom side Hednesford Town travel to St Ives Town looking for their second win of the season.

The Pitmen were beaten 3-1 by Stourbridge on Tuesday and sit 10 points from safety.

Jason Cowley and Reece Styche were on the scoresheet for the Glassboys with an own goal completing the scoreline.

Stourbridge welcome Barwell this weekend while fifth-placed Rushall Olympic entertain AFC Rushden & Diamonds. Pics staged a comeback to draw 2-2 with leaders Tamworth in midweek.