Hornets comforted by past record
Dandy Town midfielder Damon Ming insists his side don’t hold any psychological advantage over North Village ahead of the Dudley Eve final at the National Sports Centre tonight.Although Village got the better of Town in their Dudley Eve group game, Hornets owned their rivals last season and will be hoping to get the better of the defending champions again.The St John’s Road club have lost just once to their city rivals in their last four meetings and pulled off the league double last year, both 2-1 wins.Taking Town’s impressive record against Village in recent seasons into account, Ming has no doubt his team possess the ability to beat the still-undefeated Rams, but is expecting a closely fought contest.“We don’t have an advantage over them as some may say but we have got the better of them lately,” he said.“However, for the most part the games have been very even and closely contested and it really comes down to the side who wants it the most.“There isn’t a revenge factor in this one either. They did beat us in the group stage but we are more concerned with righting the wrongs from the weekend after the loss to PHC.“The last time we played them nothing was at stake and now a trophy is up for grabs, but we will go out there and play our game and see where we go from there.”Town will be looking to stop their skid after losing to PHC over the weekend and would like nothing more than to get back to winning ways with a cup final victory.A shock home loss to Boulevard on the opening day and a defeat to Zebras has left Hornets in mid-table, having played one more game than Village who are top.If Hornets are to continue their impressive recent run against Village, Ming believes they need to tighten up at the back having leaked far too many goals this term.“It is just another game, we can’t put more emphasis on this game than our next league game because each brings a different element and focus,” he said.“We are coming off a loss so we are looking to get off to a good start and play some football.“Our wins and losses haven’t been too much different from one another besides the obvious points.“In our losses we have gifted teams goals from our mental lapses and have given cheap goals away when we are winning and looking comfortable in the game.“The main focus is to be complete and not let the mistakes creep in at crucial stages in games because in the long run they will come back to haunt you. If we can do these things right then we should be fine.”Kick-off for the final is 8pm.