Boss Arron confident about Daventry Town's survival bid after derby-day joy

Daventry Town manager Arron Parkinson is confident his team can achieve their main aim for this season as they bid for survival in the Northern Premier League Midlands.

The Purple Army picked up a much-needed fourth win of the campaign on Monday as they edged out Northamptonshire rivals Corby Town 3-2 in front of a crowd of 258 at the Elderstubbs.

The victory kept Town two points clear of the Step 4/Step 5 relegation play-off place and six clear of the relegation zone itself.

Parkinson’s team are now looking forward to a tough trip to seventh-placed Carlton Town on New Year’s Day and the Daventry boss believes a crucial month will then follow for his side.

“I have a good group of players who are all committed,” Parkinson said.

“It’s tough, the league is tough. We have moved across this year and there is no two ways about it, this league will take four or five years to filter out.

“There are Step 3 clubs in the league this season and it will probably only be stronger next year.

“We just have to do what we do. Our remit is to stay in the league this season.

“We have picked up points in the last couple of months. We went 11 without winning at one stage but we have had some positive performances recently.

“As long as the players commit and we are together then we will get out of it.

“After New Year’s Day we have got a good run of games against mid-table sides where we will hopefully get enough points to help us get safe.”

Daventry couldn’t have asked for a better start on Bank Holiday Monday as goals from George Ball and Jack Bowen gave them a 2-0 half-time lead over the Steelmen.

Corby pulled a goal back through Miguel Ngwa but, almost immediately, Ball grabbed his second of the game from close-range to restore the two-goal advantage.

Gary Mulligan pulled another back for Corby but Daventry saw things out and could have added to the lead with Taylor Orosz crashing a header off the crossbar.

“We needed that,” Parkinson added.

“It was a local derby and we had to jiggle things around a bit on the morning of the game.

But we got the three points. I said to the boys before the game that we could drag another side into the relegation battle.

“We are three points behind Corby now and it’s another side down there with us, which makes it a little bit more interesting.

“For us to score straight after they did gave us that gap but I was disappointed with both of their goals. We were sloppy when we were in control of the game.

“We switch off at times and we shoot ourselves in the foot. It should have been a lot more comfortable than it was.”