HINCKLEY United manager is challenging his squad to put  up a fight  and prove they are worthy of a Blue Square North play-off place.

League leaders Fleetwood Town completed the double over the Knitters yesterday and a a massive difference was highlighted in the two squads.

Manager Thomas is not just blaming a difference in resources between the two clubs - he is questioning his own squad's fighting spirit.

 "It's probably a game you wouldn't have expected us to have taken three points from, given what Fleetwood are all about with their resources and sitting at the top of the table and whilst I can accept losing games of football, we didn't put up much of a fight," he said.

"We started quite brightly and had a couple of decent chances, then they scored a goal I felt was avoidable.

"I said to our players before the game that these are Conference players we are up against, but we didn't concentrate properly and let people run past us for both goals. You cannot afford such lapses against a side of Fleetwood's calibre and once they got in front, they weren't going to let us back into it.

"In the second half we were very poor I thought, there was no spark and our passing was poor. We've played decent football all season, but against Fleetwood it was the complete opposite and we were as poor as we've been for a long time."

Thomas is again concerned about the depth of his squad : "We picked up another injury with Matt West tweaking a hamstring and that seems to be the way it's going for us at the moment.

"But we're still in a play-off spot and we've got to keep believing and keep working hard to turn it around a bit."

Read Andy Gibbs match report here

Terry Stynes match action photos here

See Soccer X video highlights here