Winless Urchins set to welcome Maidstone

After six defeats from their opening seven Ryman Premier matches, Hornchurch manager Jimmy McFarlane admits he isn’t sleeping easy as he tries to end his side’s winless run.

Urchins welcome Maidstone to Aveley’s Mill Field tonight for their first ‘home’ game of the campaign, hoping to achieve a first three points of the new season.

McFarlane admits the club’s poor start has hurt him deeply and the most pressure he has at the moment is coming from within.

“There is always pressure but for me the biggest pressure is the personal pressure that I expect from myself,” he said.

“At the moment it isn’t very nice. It’s killing me at the moment.

“Somebody asked me how I sleep before a game and I said for four years like a baby; play-off finals, cup finals, but I haven’t slept very well lately because it hurts, it hurts me more than most.”

Hornchurch played at Mill Field on Bank Holiday Monday, falling to a 1-0 defeat to Aveley’s tenants Grays.

But McFarlane is just grateful to be able to play a ‘home’ game and bring some money into the club.

He added: “It is not the best pitch, but at the moment I would play on water if it meant we would get a win.

“The pitch at Aveley is the pitch at Aveley, we are just grateful they are letting us play there otherwise it would have cost a lot of money.”

Martin Tuohy is likely to miss out tonight through injury, but McFarlane has George Purcell, amongst others, to lead the line for Urchins.

The Hornchurch boss is sure Tuohy and Purcell will both score over 20 goals each for the club this season, but accepts he needs to make changes to the squad he built over the summer.

McFarlane said: “The upsetting thing is I have put a side together that I now don’t think is good enough to get up this year.

“The real frustrating thing is in Martin Tuohy – before he got injured – and George Purcell you have two of the most prolific marksmen this league has ever had.

“They just haven’t got their scoring boots on at the moment, but I would put my mortgage on both of them ending up with 20-plus goals.

“For George, nothing has fallen for him at the moment. Every time he gets it on his left foot it has a bobble, someone gets a touch or it is too far and he snatches, but that is what happens when everything goes against you.”