Wayne Benn (right) and assistant Andy Hayward (left) have turned Hemsworth Miners Welfare into a top side this season
Wayne Benn has urged Hemsworth Miners Welfare to get over last week’s disappointment and get back on the winning trail.
Hemsworth’s superb 19-game unbeaten run in the Toolstation NCEL Division One has put them in the thick of the hunt for promotion.
The 4-0 defeat to Louth ended the record, but Hemsworth are still only five points second-placed AFC Emley.
Hemsworth can back to winning ways at home to Knaresborough Town tomorrow.
Benn told Non League Yorkshire: “I think all the top teams are going to drop points from now and until the end of the season,” he said.
“We have everybody around us to play so we can gain the points we lost last week back.
“We know we are capable of going on a long unbeaten run as we have shown. We have to take confidence from that.
“There is 13 games to go and I think we might need to pick up another 30 points which would equate to ten wins or a combination of wins and draws.
“To finish with on or around 90 points and not get out of the league would be incredibly tough to take.
“Who knows? Teams like Clipstone have got games in hand. It is all to play for.
“We have to push on. I’m not conceding anything.
“I never said we were title favourites. I never said we would get promotion.
“I said we were a number of teams who could and that’s still the same. Nothing has changed because of one defeat.”
AFC Mansfield are seen by many as the favourites to win promotion because their recent high-profile signings.
But, Benn has a different view and he added: “No I don’t think they’re the favourites.
“If we had won our games in hand we would have been seven points in front of them.
“Even with their signings and resources, they have to potentially go unbeaten until the end of the season and hope that teams around them drop points.
“That said, if we win our game in hand we are still four points in front of Mansfield.
“We have them to play and yes it will be tough as they are signing decent players and they seem to have an unlimited budget at the minute.”