Toolstation NCEL Division One
Craig Denton says Hallam need to improve their performances if they want to stay top of the table.
Over 1000 people watched Hallam leap to top spot on Tuesday afternoon after beating Brigg Town 3-2 at Sandygate.
Hallam claimed the position as Hall Road Rangers surprised many by winning at North Ferriby.
Denton is thrilled to be top but says it is irrelevant at the moment and is more concerned with his side’s displays.
“It is nice to be top of the league and all our hard work has got us where we are,” Denton told Non League Yorkshire.
“I’m absolutely delighted but if our game at Hall Road gets called off and North Ferriby win then they go top so there’s not really much in it at the moment.
“It is nice to be up there don’t get me wrong but there’s loads of games to go so it means nothing at this stage.
“A few weeks ago we thought North Ferriby were running away with it and we thought it might be a bit difficult to catch them.
“They’re had a patch run of games where they have lost a couple.
“But we’ve been in that patch of games as well and listen, you can soon lose your next game.
“But it is tight, there’s one point in it.
“It quickly changes and if we lose any of our next few games, I can really see North Ferriby fighting back from their result (against Hall Road).
“We’re not expecting North Ferriby to drop points but we need to be ready to make sure we don’t give away sloppy goals.
“(Against Brigg) were leading the game 1-0 and within seconds of the start of the second half we concede a penalty.
“We can’t be doing that.
“If you want to be maintaining that top spot you have to be relentless, keep clean sheets and ruthless in front of goal.
“I think we have been ruthless in front of goal but we don’t want to be conceding goals and conceding early and sloppy goals.
“Our performance was good (against Brigg) but there was areas we could have worked on and we got a bit of luck in Brigg not punishing us.
“It was all hard work and endeavour from the lads but if we want to stay in top spot we have to up our game and up our standards even more.”
What Hallam have in their favour is a very experienced squad with proven winners – some who were part of the Worksop Town team who won 22 games on spin and lifted the Premier Division crown in 2019.
“We have players like Max Pemberton, Craig Mitchell, Danny Patterson who have been around when there’s loads of pressure,” he said.
“There’s a lot of pressure for the Hallam because every-time we play it feels like it is their biggest game of the season and they roll their sleeves up and come out fighting.
“That’s no disrespect to anybody, it just feels like it did at Worksop; everyone wants to beat Worksop or Hallam.
“For me I feel like it is a cup final every single week in our league.
“Having experience and quality players like Patterson and your Craig Mitchell, they can rise to the challenge.
“Playing in front of a bumper crowd is what they’re used to and they can play with that expectation.”
In a quirk of fate Hall Road are up next for Hallam with Denton’s men travelling over to Haworth Park on Monday afternoon.
Denton agrees Hall Road’s confidence will have gone through the roof.
“I spoke to Leon over text (on Tuesday) and it is a crazy one because they will have loads of momentum after beating North Ferriby,” he said.
“When you come up against a side like North Ferriby and collect three points that’s a huge buzz.
“David Ricardo went in a couple of months ago to help Leon and you can see they have something working really well there.
“They have good honest players who are really hard-working and it is a tough place to go.
“I’ve been there a few times and the last time was a really tough game against strong opponents.
“We’ll not take them lightly but they’re going to be absolutely buzzing to be coming up against us.
“It is prime time for them, they’re in good form.”
Denton regularly has to fend off a sabre-rattling on social media and the past week has been no different.
One tweet was aimed at his player recruitment and suggested he was signing loads of players.
Denton, who laughed at the word “stockpile”, says that is simply not the case.
“I noticed somebody put I was stockpiling players on Twitter the other day believe it or not,” he said.
“At Hallam we have no contracted players so it is a bit hard to stockpile!
“We have registered players and if they are unhappy they go and find another club.
“(On Tuesday) we had an injured player in Liam Royles on the bench who I wasn’t able to get on because he’s struggling with his collarbone.
“We are looking to potentially get a body over-the-line this week – a defender and if we can do that would be brilliant and would help us.
“But again I’m happy with the players I have got.
“I’ve recruited because we have had a couple of injuries recently.
“Getting James Gregory back was brilliant and we have one-or-two move on.
“Josh Scully has gone back to Clay Cross and there’s a few who have moved on and we haven’t made a big deal about them.
“Steven Wankiewicz has a hairline fracture and he’s a big miss for us but we haven’t made a big hoo-ha about it.”