Midfielder Dave Egan believes Chasetown’s play-off destiny is firmly in their own hands.
The Scholars jumped to seventh spot in the Evo-Stik Premier Division after a 3-1 win at Mickleover Sports – a victory which puts them back into the play-off chasing pack behind runaway leaders Halifax Town.
The game also marked the return to first team action of Egan and goalkeeper Ryan Price after injury.
Both are back in Chasetown’s first team fold at a perfect stage of the season as Charlie Blakemore’s men hunt down a fairytale finish to the season.
And influential midfielder Egan believes anything but a win against Mickleover would have left the Scholars with a play-off mountain to climb. He explained:
“It was very important to get a win at Mickleover. We always seem to finish the season well and if that happens again we could sneak into the play-offs. Other teams are playing each other and we’ve got to play a couple teams around us. We win those and it puts us in a great position.
“That’s really the target Charlie has set for us – see if we can win every game, take each one at a time and see what happens. Hopefully we can do it and that would be an awesome achievement.”
Egan’s return to the starting line-up came as somewhat of a shock to Scholars supporters – and to the player himself.
The midfielder has been out of action since fracturing his wrist against FC United of Manchester.
The injury cruelly forced Egan to miss out on Chasetown’s FA Trophy clashes with Mansfield Town. But, determined not to miss out on what could be a memorable season at the Scholars Ground, he declared himself fit to face Mickleover.
He told The Lichfield Blog:
“It was brilliant to be back. I made myself available as it felt okay with some good strapping on it. It felt great to back on the picth, although I could hardly have felt any worse the morning after I was so stiff after a few weeks out!
“I didn’t actually expect to start, let alone play the full 90 minutes. But it’s nice that the manager has the faith in me to throw me straight back in.”
Egan will be in contention once more when Chasetown look to cement their position among the play-off hopefuls with a trip to Frickley Athletic tomorrow (April 9).
A repeat of the 2-0 scoreline in the reverse fixture two weeks ago courtesy of goals from John Branch and Gary Hay would suit the Scholars down to the ground.
But Frickley are a club fighting for their lives, perched precariously two places off the bottom of the division after their own 3-0 defeat to Mickleover last weekend and a 2-0 reverse against at home to Kendal Town on Tuesday night.
