Freck talks Frickley and squad changes

The management duo, who took charge of first team affairs in October, kept faith with the side – and formation – that defeated Tamworth a week before, when Tigers strode out at Sandy Lane to face Hednesford on Saturday.

And speaking to the Guardian ahead of the festive fixture against Frickley, and former Tigers boss Peter Rinkcavage, Frecklington explained the selection headache.

“We’ve got big decisions to make. You look at our bench we had on Saturday, we had Massiah (McDonald), Robbo (Marc Roberts) Gary King, young Willo (James Wilson), Michael Jacklin and they’ll have to sit on the sidelines unless we make decisions to change it.”

Having taken on some of the best sides in the division recently and switching from 4-4-2 to 4-5-1, Frecklington said another tactical change could be necessary on Monday.

“Every team that we play we do our homework on,” he said.

“We went to Chester 4-4-2 and thought we could get something out of the game, but we’ve learnt from that - when you’re playing the top sides in the league you might have to set up a different way.”

“Our three in the centre of midfield were first class last week against Tamworth and we couldn’t really change anything. We stayed the same for Hednesford and it worked.”

“Frickley are a proper Evo-Stik, physical side. They’ll try and get amongst us and upset us.”

“We’ve got to be mentally right to adapt to that game.”

The former Stamford number two was delighted with Saturday’s shutout of table toppers Hednesford, but he and Clark are still focusing on the next game – rather than any end of season targets.

“It was a fantastic performance, we’ve got two clean sheets on the bounce against two top teams.”

“We only take one game at a time, that’s what we’ve done since we’ve been here and we’re delighted with the response we’ve had from the players.”

“We’ve gone 21 games and lost two against top sides and the lads are progressing. If we carry that on then who knows where it can take us? But we’ve set no goals or targets.”

And while the supporters are enjoying the good times at Sandy Lane, Frecklington admits he’s having a ball.

He told the Guardian: “We’ve made the step up from Evo-Stik One and I love it. It’s a proper football club.”

“Me and the gaffer are Lincoln lads and it takes us half an hour to get to the club.”

“The people, the fans and everyone around the club want to go places and hopefully we can take them to where they want to be.”