Whitchurch Alport’s assistant manager Steve May will be guiding the team in this Saturday’s crucial match against the league’s bottom side, Abbey Hey.

And the likelihood is that he will lead the Reds for the following week’s trip to Litherland Remyca with manager Luke Goddard sitting out the next two games.

May was delighted to see Alport secure a cup final spot in midweek against Prees and emphasised the importance of the win.

“We won the cup last year and we saw what it meant to the club’s supporters,” said May. “We’ve had a few postponements these last few weeks so we wanted to go strong and there was a lot of first-team experience both in the starting line-up and on the bench.

“It was everything to win and nothing to lose for them and they gave it a right good go. But we knew that we had enough to hurt them particularly if they got tired on a heavy pitch, and that proved to be the case as we were ruthless in the last 10 minutes.”

May knows full well that this weekend’s match won’t quite be as easy: “I went to watch them on Saturday and they were unlucky not to get anything out of the game with Northwich Victoria winning by the only goal.,” he said.

“Vics are flying at the moment but Abbey were tough opponents. They are not coming to our place to just roll over and give us the points and our fans might be expecting a romp after we scored six without reply in the corresponding fixture.

“We’ll need all the help they can give us as this is a game we can’t afford to lose. Along with everybody else here, I don’t want us to get sucked into a relegation battle because we’re much better than that despite the league tables saying differently.”

May added that Alport are actively trying to add to the squad over the coming weeks. “Let’s face it, we’ve lost three strikers in a month and so that’s left us a couple light,” he said.

“The likelihood is that we will bring others in and they may be on dual registrations but that’s the nature of the beast at this time of the season. We are talking to two or three players to boost us in that department as there’s too much emphasis on Alex Hughes and Arron Johns to get the goals needed to win matches.

May singled out young Luke Walley who has cemented his place in the squad after missing two months through injury.

“I thought Luke did really well when he came on the other night,” he said.

“He was lively and caused them many problems so he has to be considered for a start and if not, then he will definitely be on the bench.

“Because he’s slight in build, we have to consider whether or not he can cope with the rigours of step five football in terms of starting the match.

“There have been several examples where Luke has looked like a world beater most notably against Prees and also against Hanley when he was unplayable against both.

“You have to be careful and nurture youth; Luke would like to start every game because he’s a talented kid.”