Phil Banyard Linnets manager Carl Heggs is keeping close tabs on the managerial situation at Peterborough as he looks to extend the loan signing of in-form striker Kwesi Appiah.

Phil Banyard

Linnets manager Carl Heggs is keeping close tabs on the managerial situation at Peterborough as he looks to extend the loan signing of in-form striker Kwesi Appiah.

Appiah, who has hit five goals in his last two games, initially came to The Walks on a one-month loan, which was extended last month. Heggs had been in discussions with Posh boss Darren Ferguson about keeping the striker until the end of the season, but Ferguson's departure from London Road this week means the Lynn manager must restart negotiations.

Heggs remains hopeful, however, saying: “Mark Cooper looks like he's favourite for the job and he's my best mate in football so as one door slams, a window opens somewhere.”

Appiah's recent form has only strengthened Heggs' desire to keep him at The Walks: “Kwesi's got a wonderful chance of progressing in the game,” said Heggs. “He's just a natural goalscorer - his goals come from good movement in the box and nearly all of his goals are one touch finishes because his movement is superb. He's one that I've loved working with and if I could tie him up until the end of the season I definitely would.”

Heggs' men host Ossett today, with last week's 11-0 thrashing of bottom side Durham still fresh in the memory.

The manager said: “It's always nice to score 11 goals - well actually it's never happened to me before in 22 years of football so I can't say it's always nice, but to score 11 goals in any game is a wonderful achievement. But what was more pleasing to me was even when we were 10-0 up, the lads were still doing everything right and they were running around like they were winning 1-0 in a cup final.

“They didn't take their foot off the pedal and they didn't stop doing all the things that made them successful.”

And Heggs insists his side will not take Ossett lightly, despite Town's lowly position in the table: “We're not the sort of club who go round high-fiving each other and having a laugh and joke about how many goals we've scored,” he said. “Ossett have got 17 points - we've only got 27 and we're fifth. A win for them on Saturday would put them mid-table so it's not going to be easy.

“But we're at a stage now where the lads all know their jobs, they all know what's expected of them. I don't fear anyone in our league, but we don't take any game for granted and we proved that last week when we worked from the first minute to the last and won 11-0.”

The Linnets will be without striker Anthony Robinson, who starts a five-game ban after picking up his third red card of the season in the FA Trophy win at Whitby.

But Heggs is confident the Linnets can cope without Robinson, who like Appiah hit a hat-trick against hapless Durham: “We played 70 minutes without him at Whitby, who are a good side and we didn't miss him then,” said Heggs.

“It's going to be a blow but somebody else gets an opportunity. I don't care who it is, if they come in and do well they keep their place - there's no politics with me, the best players play.”

Utility player Danny Spencer gets the nod to replace Robinson today, while Heggs has also confirmed that he has agreed a season-long loan deal for another striker, Jason Bradley. The Mansfield forward initially arrived at The Walks on a three-month loan and is currently recovering from an ankle injury sustained on his goalscoring Linnets debut, against Bradford Park Avenue in September.