Dan Dolling previews Saturdays crunch promotion battle

Saturday will see Central play a rare cup final in the league, they face 6th placed Avro Reserves knowing that a win on the final day would guarantee at least a 5th placed finish and promotion against their promotion rivals. Central currently sit 5th place on 45 points, with Avro just 2 points behind with a game in hand. Therefore, a draw would mean Central would be praying for a miracle as Avro take on bottom of the league Cavaliers on their final day. However, Central will take some extra confidence in to the game knowing they won 4-3 away against Avro back in November.

I decided to catch up with vice-captain and captain for Saturdays crunch game, Dan Dolling. The first thing I wanted to find out was whether Dan has ever been involved in a final day game of this magnitude and how much he is looking forward to it, and Saturdays skipper sounds well up for it.

"Really looking forward to the last game of the season on Saturday, it's our first first time properly fighting for that promotion place so i'm definitely prepared."

In addition, Dan also seemed to relish the thought of leading the team out for a game which is as big as they get. As well as, making no mistake in appreciating that Avro will not make it easy by any stretch of the imagination.

"Being captain is great of course, leading the lads out but also looking to get all the lads fired up for the test that Avro will bring on Saturday."

Central will be coming into the match on the back of 2 clean sheets and just 1 goal conceded in their last 3 league games, a perfect time for such a huge game. And Dan puts that run of form largely down to injuries settling down and having consistency in the back line.

"The back line has been changed a few times throughout the season due to injuries and people being away from it but everything has definitely seemed to settle during the latter stages of the season, everyone has found a good run of form."

But, it isn't just defensively where Central have excelled at home recently, it is in all departments. Having won 6 of their last 7 home games, scoring an astonishing 46 goals along the way. And Dan knows how much that could benefit the team on Saturday.

"Definitely happy to be playing at home for the last game of the season, it should give the lads some added confidence, I believe we have won 6 of the past 8 at home or something like that so we are looking to put in another great performance to see us get promoted."

Finally, I wanted to know what is needed from the team for them to get them all important 3 points at the weekend.

"Just a solid performance is needed on Saturday, making sure that all of the boys are fired up and ready to win is the main priority to see us into the last promotion place."