HOOPS V PUNJAB UTD PREVIEW

The Hoops will be looking to get back on the winning trail when they entertain Punjab United at the Charles Ground on Saturday.
Last weekend’s 3-0 defeat at Glebe meant that Derek Hares’ side have now gone six matches without a victory but Hares said: “I’m not too worried about it because we have played a lot of the top teams recently and, apart from the Glebe game when we had a bit of an ‘off day’, our performances have been okay.
“We’ve got 14 games left now and we’ve got to get as many points as we can and finish as high as we can.”
The Hoops are still clinging on to seventh place in the table whereas Punjab are 10 positions lower down but the Gravesend-based club have a nine-point cushion between themselves and the bottom two and so look unlikely to go straight back down after winning the SCEL Division One title last season.
Deal and Punjab have already met twice this campaign. They drew 0-0 in the league at United in early November and then a month later the Hoops won 3-1 in a League Challenge Cup second round tie at the Charles Ground thanks to goals from Ben Chapman, Steve O’Brien and Ben Cardwell.