Chris Lakey Keith Webb believes his players have the perfect incentive to return to winning ways when they play one of the Blue Square North's in-form teams this afternoon.

Chris Lakey

Keith Webb believes his players have the perfect incentive to return to winning ways when they play one of the Blue Square North's in-form teams this afternoon.

Alfreton Town go to The Walks protecting an eight-match unbeaten run which gives them genuine ambitions of landing a play-off spot.

The Linnets, on the other hand, have successive defeats on the recent record - and an ear-bashing from their manager after last weekend's lacklustre 3-0 defeat at Fleetwood.

Add in a big holiday home crowd and it should be perfect motivation for the Linnets.

"You'd think so," said Webb. "We have done well against the teams at the top end of the table this season at home and that has allowed us a little bit of breathing space.

"Plus we certainly owe the fans something after last week's performance - we need to get ourselves sorted out because we were poor.

"I can accept seeing my team outplayed, it happens, but I cannot accept it being out-fought."

Webb will keep faith with the same squad today, but expect to see one or two tweaks - especially with a Bank Holiday Monday trip to Hucknall Town also in the back of his mind.

The Linnets will have just two more games after the holiday fixtures, and while safety is almost assured Webb is refusing to use that as an excuse for recent results - nor the financial aftermath of director Michael Chinn's New Year exit.

"That's a long time ago now and I think we're all over it," said Webb. "We can't use it as an excuse.

"Perhaps there will be players who want to know what's going to happen to next season but there is a job to be done yet.

"We have four games to go and Lee (Glover) and myself will not be promoting any idea that the season is all but over.

"We want to finish as high as we can and that is something we will be saying to the players.

"The club is actively searching out new investment and it is vital that we are seen to be doing as well as possible on the field of play and doing our jobs properly."

City have a 10-point advantage over Hyde in the final relegation spot and by Monday could have safety secured - but Webb isn't counting any chickens.

"I'm not going to say we're safe because mathematically there is still a chance that we're not," he insisted. "But it would take a Herculean effort by a coupe of teams for us to go down."

Alfreton boss Nicky Law has received a timely double boost ahead of today's trip to Norfolk: Mansfield have agreed to extend striker Anthony Howell's loan until the end of the season, including the play-offs, should Alfreton get there.

And striker Liam Hearn is expected to return to action after missing the last two games with a calf injury. Hearn has scored 20 goals in only 26 appearances - and of those 19 have come in the league from 19 starts.

Lynn (from): Howie, Graham, Smith, Peters, Thomas, Camm, Kelly, Fisk, Johnson, Renton, J Defty, Dwyer, Joachim, Mitchell, Crane, Murray.

Blue Square match odds: Lynn 2-1, Alfreton 5-4, draw 5-2.