Boss Setchell believes in-form Steelmen’s future is looking very bright

Although the Steelmen’s chances of clinching a promotion play-off spot this season are not quite yet mathematically over.

The postponement of Tuesday night’s trip to Anstey Nomads due to a waterlogged pitch means Corby still have three games to play and nine points to play for.

The swiftly rearranged clash at Anstey is due to take place tonight (Thursday, April 18), and if the Steelmen can win that, they are not quite out of the picture, although it would be a very long shot.

Quorn moved fifth on Tuesday, and eight points clear of the Steelmen, with a 3-1 win at Walsall Wood, leapfrogging Loughborough who Corby travel to on Saturday.

​So it is still most likely that Corby will be facing another year in the Midlands Division.

But if that is the case then Setchell believes it can be a successful one if the current squad is kept together, and a few new faces added.

The Steelmen are on a four-match winning run, and have lost just two of their past 16 league matches, and it will be a huge frustration to everybody at the club that run of form has probably come too late.

"You can't expect to be in and around it when you don't win your first home game until January 1,” said Setchell.

"I have to credit the players, because there was a lot of turmoil at the turn of the year, the players all took a pay cut, and I think the way they have reacted and rolled their sleeves up for the football club is credit to them.

"We have players who could go and play elsewhere, we have players who are good enough for other teams to take them, so fair play to them for keeping going.

"We now have to all try and stick together.

"I will be speaking to the owners about what direction we are going in next season, to see if we can get one or two players in.

"We have four youth team players on the bench at the moment, but there is the nucleus of a very good squad here. We have proven that over the past four or five weeks, and hopefully we can keep them together."

Last Saturday, the Steelmen produced a remarkable second-half performance to seal a superb 7-1 win over Sporting Khalsa.

Corby trailed 1-0 at the break, only to score seven times without reply in the second half but Setchell admitted it was his goalkeeper, Tom Finch, who was the man of the match for the home side.

The shot-stopper kept his side in the game with a string of crucial first-half saves, and the Steelmen boss said: "As strange as it sounds, I think Tom Finch was man of the match.

"Sporting Khalsa came here and they gave us the biggest doing we have had here all season in the first half. We could have literally gone in three, four or five down as we were at sixes and sevens.

"We needed to get in at half-time at 1-0, we had a few choice words, we tweaked two or three things, and we then played some good football and scored a really good first goal.

"Khalsa then hit the self-destruct button and we took full advantage of that."

Connor Tomlinson led the way for Corby with a hat-trick, but there was also a double for Reuben Marshall and singles for Johnson Gyamfi and striker Toby Hillard.

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