Blackstones Football Club face Clipstone in the United Counties League

Blackstones will be bidding to banish their Clipstone curse to stay in the United Counties League Division One play-off spots this weekend.

Stones moved into a coveted top five place last Saturday after a 2-0 away victory at Stapleford Town.

And they now need to avoid defeat against sixth-placed Clipstone at the Seven Bespoke Joinery Stadium on Saturday to maintain their lofty placing.

However, in order to achieve that, they need to take points off a Cobras side who have won every meeting so far with Jon Harrison and Ryan Wood's charges.

The Mansfield side were 3-1 and 2-1 winners in their first matches against Stones' management team in the 2022/23 campaign.

They followed that with 5-2 and 1-0 victories last season before staging a dramatic late fightback to take the three points in their first meeting of this term.

Stones had looked to set to end their barren run of results against the Cobras as they held a 3-2 lead going into injury-time of the November match.

However, there was a late sting in the tail for Stones as they conceded two penalties in stoppage time to fall to a 4-3 defeat.

Co-manager Harrison said: "We've been hovering around the play-off places for quite a while so it's great to be finally in there having bridged that gap.

"It's a big game for us at the weekend because, if we don't get a favourable result, then we could be straight back outside the play-offs again.

"The teams behind us will also close in on us again so all of a sudden we'll be fighting for every single little bit.

"If we approach it right and manage to get the job done against Clipstone then all of a sudden we've got that little barrier.

"A win would also make it harder for Clipstone to bridge that gap because they've got a lot of tough games coming up so it's a massive match for us.

"We have got a bit of a hoodoo against them though in that we haven't taken a single point off them since we've been in charge.

"The last match was our best performance against them though so hopefully we can go one step forward on Saturday and get the result.

"It's a challenge for the boys because Clipstone are a good side but there are great rewards at the end of it.

"I just hope the lads turn up, relax, play the game in front of them because realistically we'll give anyone a game with the way which we're playing."

Stones go into the crunch clash buoyed by three successive league wins since the start of 2025.

It has seen them named Division One Team of the Month for January after victories over Pinxton, West Bridgford and Stapleford.

Harrison added: "We have to make sure that we don't get carried away.

"We're in a good place on and off the pitch and the lads are working really hard.

"The competition for places is huge and that's largely down to the youngsters coming through from the Under 18s.

"Our fitness is also very good. We're holding on in games because we're strong until the end and we keep creating chances.

"We had more chances than Stapleford on Saturday and we created those because we had more energy."

Blackstones Under 18s have a game in the Northants Senior Youth League tonight (Thursday).

They travel to FC Peterborough looking to maintain top spot in the North Division.