King's Lynn boss Tommy Taylor insists his players must be fearless in tonight's Southern League, Premier Division title shoot against Salisbury at The Walks.

King's Lynn boss Tommy Taylor insists his players must be fearless in tonight's Southern League, Premier Division title shoot against Salisbury at The Walks. (7.45pm)

Taylor knows a ninth consecutive league will fire Lynn into top spot for the first time this season at The Whites' expense.

Lynn can bank on the support of their biggest home crowd since losing the 2004 Divisional playoff final to Redditch, and Taylor is adamant his promotion-chasers are not about to suffer stage fright.

"It's a big game - we can't play that down and I wouldn't want to," he admitted. "I'm looking forward to it and so are the players. Everything is on the up right now. Salisbury deserve respect because they have been there all year, but trust me, they will be more worried about us than the other way around.

"We have the opportunity to go top and then it's about trying to stay there over the run in. All our players have played in front of big crowds before, we can handle that and it's up to everyone connected with the club to use it to our advantage.

"I just want us to play our normal game, don't be frightened to go and create things and take the chances when they come."

Taylor is confident strike duo Jack Defty (hamstring) and Matt Nolan (back) will be fit after both limped out of Saturday's 3-1 win at Mangotsfield.

The Linnets chief yesterday laid down a title challenge to his red hot front pair, with the onus firmly on Lynn to attack.

"Those two can win us the league," said Taylor, on the duo who have hit 12 in Lynn's last 12 games. "They are that good for me and I haven't seen a defence capable of handling them yet. We could've scored five or six at the weekend, but the positive thing is we are chipping in with goals from other areas of the side as well.

"The lads have known it was win or bust for a while, so nothing really changes against Salisbury. We've won eight on the spin and we're not looking to do anything different. It's the same team that has got us into this position, lets see if they can finish the job.

"We played some excellent stuff for 45 minutes against Chippenham and when we went to Salisbury earlier in the season. If we reproduced that for a whole game I would be over the moon, but I don't care how we play if we come off at the end with a win."

Central defender Grant Cooper (hamstring) is Taylor's major injury doubt. Stephen Harvey is expected to retain his place in the starting line up if Cooper fails a late fitness test.

Salisbury's 18-goal striker Matt Tubbs settled October's corresponding fixture from the penalty spot, but the prolific marksman is still sidelined after undergoing cartilage surgery last month.

King's Lynn (from): Benstead, Higgs, West, Smith, Cooper, McMahon, Carey, Camm, Anselin, Defty, Hammond, Nolan, Charles, Harvey, O'Halloran, Peters.

Club officials have confirmed an extra turnstile will be open at the Tennyson Road end tonight. Turnstiles open at 6.30pm and supporters are advised to arrive early to avoid possible congestion.

A collection for ex-Linnet Chris Watts, recently diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease, will take place during the half-time interval.

Watts made 471 appearances, scoring 45 goals, in a nine-year career at The Walks. The 48-year-old was awarded a testimonial against Ipswich Town in 1987.