NEW Milton boss Glenn Burnett has lit the blue touch paper ahead of Linnets’ trip to his former club Blackfield & Langley tomorrow (3pm).
Burnett and his assistant John MacFarlane left Gang Warily in acrimonious circumstances before taking charge at Fawcett’s Field earlier this season.
The pair had been on the management team at the Waterside outfit but departed for reasons described only by Burnett as “political”.
As a consequence, he claims Blackfield pulled out all the stops when they beat Linnets 3-2 in December, a performance Burnett suggests may have been a one-off.
Blackfield, who have won once in 10 games since seeing off Burnett’s men, are three places and three points behind 16th-placed Linnets but do have seven games in hand.
Previewing the clash, Burnett said: “They seemed to view our last meeting as a grudge match but I’m not sure why.
“They weren’t on a great run when we played them in December and we didn’t play particularly well. But if they had tried as hard in all their other games as they did against us, they would be at the top end of the table where they should be with their budget.”
Burnett has named five ex-Blackfield players in his squad for the trip across the New Forest, while Tommy Donaldson, a sixth recruit from Gang Warily, is unavailable.
Victory at Totton & Eling in midweek was Linnets’ fifth in their past six league games and saw them climb 13 points clear of the drop zone.
Burnett added: “We know there is a gap developing but we won’t be taking our foot off the gas. Confidence is sky high and we want to finish the season strongly.”
Linnets: (from) Rowe, Davies, Case, Barge, Stuart, Proctor, Holland, Tanner, Gilkes, Baldacchino, Moth, Morris, Herbert, Preston, Curtis.
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