Ricketts raises the bar

Ilkeston striker Gary Ricketts insists the Robins should not rule out a bid for an Evo-Stik NPL Premier Division Play-off spot - even if consolidation remains their primary target after promotion last season.

Despite losing seven of their first ten league games and at one point propping up the table, Ricketts, pictured, believes Kevin Wilson’s side are now coming into form ahead of a busy December after Monday night’s 2-0 win over Grantham Town at the New Manor Ground.

The victory lifted Ilkeston to 15th in the table and the frontman reckons the Robins must now string more good results together, starting with Chorley at home on Saturday, to quickly climb into the top half.

Wilson’s side have taken ten points from a possible 15 in their last five matches and Ricketts said: "There are two schools of thought for me. On the one hand, you can always look on it as being a good season if you stay in the league when you have just got promoted. You tend to forget how many more teams are well-organised and competitive at this level compared to the league below.

"But at the same time, I cannot see any reason why we can’t now look to push on and strive for a Play-Off place if we can find some consistency and get on a run. You can afford one or two bad results along the way, which can give you a kick up the backside to raise your standards again, but otherwise, you have to look to grind the results out.

"The good thing is the results have started to come after we were regularly losing out by the odd goal earlier in the season and with the lads’ confidence up, we are moving in the right direction."

Ricketts scored his fifth goal of the season against the Gingerbreads to seal victory after Russell Peel had put Ilkeston in front. The former Hucknall Town and Hinckley United striker agrees with his manager that it was a tough game that might not have yielded a victory a few weeks ago.

He added: "I know some people were not happy with the performance, and maybe we didn’t play the best football like we can. But in terms of getting stuck in to make sure we got the win I thought it was a fantastic performance.

"If you look at the Premier League, Manchester United only play well in a certain percentage of their games yet they are always up there at the end of the season because they find a way to win. That’s what we did on Monday and something that has been missing earlier in the season. We are showing the right mentality now needed to win games."