McDaid: The hard work starts now for the Whites

Lincoln United skipper Brendan McDaid insists that "the hard work begins now" as the Whites aim to increase their unbeaten run to nine matches and mount a climb up the UniBond League Division One (South) table.

Lincoln take on Cammell Laird at Ashby Avenue tomorrow (3pm), having won five of the last eight games, but the midfielder is urging his team-mates not to become over-confident after an impressive run of form.

"It only takes a couple of wins for confidence to grow among the squad," said McDaid, who faces a three-match ban after a straight red card in Tuesday's 2-1 win over Carlton Town.

"But it can easily work against you because you can go into games almost too confident and end up losing focus and slipping up."

Despite a string of good results, United occupy a lowly 17th place in the table although they are a healthy 22 points clear of the relegation zone.

"It is frustrating that we haven't been able to climb up the league," said McDaid.

"A poor start to the season meant that we were playing catch-up with the cluster of mid-table teams.

"We've done that now and this is really where the hard work begins to maintain our form and push on.

"I think if we'd have won five or six games more in the first half of the season we would have had a chance of making the play-offs.

"But we are aiming for a top 10 finish now and I think it would be a big achievement if we were to do that, considering the position we were in before Christmas.