United head to Harrogate tomorrow keen to make sure that they end the season properly, with both teams assured of survival following Monday’s round of results.
Speaking to us about the importance of doing things properly, assistant manager Paul Simpson said: “The three games left are against teams who are around us or in touching distance, so we’ve put ourselves into a mini-league and we want to finish top of it.
“We can finish just below mid-table which would look better than if we finished fourth bottom. We’re really keen to do that, we’ve spoken to the lads about it.
“Training has been really good and hopefully now the shackles and pressure have been released they can keep the professional attitude and take it into the game at the weekend.
“Harrogate will be the saying the same things, they’ll want to finish the season well, and they’ll want to perform in front of their home fans.
“They’ve had injuries which have affected them. I’ve seen quite a lot of them, and they’ve got a good squad of players. They had a successful start to the season and they’ll be trying to get back to that form.
“It’s about what we go and do, they’re in and around us in the table so we want to go there and get a positive result to put a gap between us. They’ll be desperate to put things right, especially at home, so we’ll have to be at the top of our game.”
With the Sulphurites having suffered an indifferent run recently, he added: “They are a dangerous beast and, like I say, they’ve got good players.
“But I think we’ve shown if we’re at it we’re a match for anybody. If we’re not, we make it difficult for ourselves. We’ll do our homework on them, as you do, you prepare for them, show them videos and say how they’re going to play.
“But if we show up we have a good chance of getting a result. If we don’t, it’s a difficult afternoon, and that doesn’t change.
“It’s always funny if people say a game doesn’t matter - of course it does. You never know who’s watching.
“I was saying to some of the young boys at their youth game on Wednesday, you never know who’s watching, who’s making a note for the future, if you do move on or don’t move on.
“There’s always people watching, never mind it being a professional level and people paying good money to watch you.
“And the big carrot is, things are so much better when you win, your life’s so much easier. Playing for contracts here or elsewhere, wanting to get in the manager or whoever’s thoughts for next year, there’s lots to play for.
“On top of that, if you’re a professional you should drive yourself to win every day in training and every game. It’s too easy to say there’s nothing at stake.”
Training can always be an indicator to the feeling within the camp, and he revealed that the intensity levels had been high, despite Monday’s gruelling game.
“The intensity has been really good,” he confirmed. “Being honest, you do wonder how it will be.
“You always have pressure when you play, but they’ve had that pressure of relegation hanging over you.
“Like I say, we’ve talked about wanting to make a point of these last three games and finishing at the top of this mini-league, and that starts on Saturday, so we have to be in the right place.
“Another thing about Saturday, we’ve not beaten them away, we seem to have played them 10-15 times but we’ve only played them twice at their place.
“We know the ground, we definitely want to win, it’s one ground we’ve not won at in the league, you want to make history that way, so there’s lots of motivation.
“They’ll be dangerous animals, they have good players, especially up top, whereas at the back they’ve had lots of injuries, had to chop and change the keeper.
“It's up to us, we always show teams respect, but when we have a go we’re at our best rather than being too cagey and protecting what we’ve got.”