Lowestoft Town director of football Craig Fleming.

Lowestoft Town face Ryman League Premier basement boys Horsham at Gorings Mead this afternoon (kick-off 3pm) but director of football Craig Fleming insists the Blues have learned not to take any side lightly in the division.

To send a link to this page to a friend, simply enter their email address below.

The message will include the name and email address you gave us when you signed up.

Email address

  Send link

To send a link to this page to a friend, you must be logged in.

Lowestoft went down to their first league defeat in nine games against AFC Hornchurch on Monday and on paper Horsham look like the perfect side for the Trawlerboys to get back to winning ways.

However, Fleming has learned over the first half of the season that Lowestoft’s rise in recent years has seen them become marked men in the division against which lesser sides raise their game.

“It’s difficult because we are a scalp – we have given up looking at the league table, it’s irrelevant when it comes to assessing our opponents,” he said. “You see it so often that they will beat us one week and then lose five on the bounce.

“On paper, it looks like a winnable game, but we’ve learned not to judge anything on paper at Lowestoft now.”

Lowestoft are hopeful that Erkan Okay can recover from an ankle injury although Adrian Forbes is still sidelined with a thigh problem.

Matt Nolan (heel) is a doubt but the club are hopeful Andrew Fisk can shake off a virus he has been suffering from recently.

Fleming admitted they could once again look to Scott Mitchell to plug in the gaps left in the Blues line-up as a result of injuries.

The 26-year-old has been one of Lowestoft’s outstanding performers this season at centre-half, central midfield and most recently right-back and Fleming has been delighted with the player’s form wherever he has been deployed this season.

“Scott is just a proper footballer. You can put him anywhere on a football pitch, and I mean anywhere, and he will do a job for you,” he said.

“We have played him all across the defence and all across the midfield – I even think he could do a decent job as a striker.

“His technique is very good and I think he has been outstanding for us this season.”

Despite defeat against promotion rivals Hornchurch, Fleming insists the Blues’ destiny remains in their hands and he expects his side to be right in the title shake-up at the end of the season.

“I think that we’ve done well – we feel like we could be in a better position but we would have taken where we are now at the start of the season.

“It’s in our hands and you can’t ask for much more from the lads. We had a spell when we had a lot of injuries and couldn’t really get a settled side but we have come through that.”