Hebburn Town manager makes Macclesfield admission as NPL Premier Division play-off race heats up

Hebburn Town manager Daniel Moore believes eight to ten clubs are fighting for a Northern Premier League Premier Division play-off place after admitted runaway leaders Macclesfield are unlikely to be caught.

The Hornets currently sit in fourth place in the table ahead of Saturday’s home clash with fellow top five contenders Ashton United and will head into the game looking to bounce back from last weekend’s defeat against another side with promotion aspirations, Guiseley. It is big-spending Macclesfield who continue to set the pace in non-league’s third tier and they current sit ten points clear at the top of the table after going unbeaten in their first 16 games of the season. Robbie Savage’s side also have the benefit of holding as many as two games in hand over the clubs immediately below them - and Moore has stressed the season could well become a battle to be best of the rest behind the Silkmen.

He explained: “If you look at this run of fixtures we’ve had, when you look at it, we’ve had Worksop, Macclesfield, Leek away, FC United of Manchester, Guiseley and now we have Ashton United and Ilkeston. There’s just no breather, every game is a massive game in this league because it’s so tight. Even clubs near the relegation zone know a couple of wins can get them close to the play-offs and that means every game is massive. This is why we want to be at this level, these are the challenges we want to face and we want to be one of those eight to ten teams to get a play-off place at the end of the season because I think Macclesfield are gone now.”

There have been two departures from Hebburn this week after defender Tom Devitt joined East Division club Dunston UTS on a permanent deal and young midfielder Leo Robinson agreed to spend the next month on loan at Bishop Auckland.

Speaking about the latter of those moves, Moore said: “Leo is young and still developing into the senior game, so it’s important for him to get regular minutes on the pitch for him to focus on his development. Leo is very much in our long-term plans as a club, but we are keen for him to get more regular minutes at a decent level”.