With a reduced number of games set to be played in League Two this weekend it means that United will head into their rearranged fixture with Harrogate on Tuesday night in top spot.
Speaking about what that means to the football department at the club, manager Chris Beech said: “It feels tremendous for everybody involved, be that supporters, owners, chairman or players, who are the important people in this at the football club.
“They’re the guys who have to go out every week and put everything we’re asking them to do into practice. I’m just really pleased for everybody.”
“It’s one hundred per cent down to hard work, backed up with great honesty,” he continued. “Within that there are some fantastic individual skills within the framework we work in.
“Looking back to the summer we only had seven players signed up initially as we got involved in a different type of pre-season, and we had to work really hard in those circumstances to recruit the type of people we wanted.
“It’s gone very well and the culture and environment we’ve tried to grow here has been accepted, and the players are loving it.”
And the squad will receive another boost in the short-term with Jon Mellish set to return from a calf injury.
“Jon’s all good, that’s great news, he trained yesterday,” the gaffer explained. “It’s unfortunate the game’s off tomorrow but he’s back at it, so that’s great for the squad and the lads, the competitive nature of this team, and we may end up in the situation where we’ve got difficult choices to make.
“But that’s a great place to be as a manager rather than ‘how can we plug this hole when we haven’t got anybody to fill it?’ I’d much rather be in this situation and I’m thankful they’re fit and available.
“Obviously that adds to the news we had about Rhys Bennett this week. I am very pleased about that. It was hard-fought in terms of us looking to convince Rhys this was the right place to be, he had other suitors who would pay more money.
“It was about the reasons why, the connection, and I did a presentation to him about different situations at different clubs, compared to ours. It’s worked, he’s decided to join us, I’m thankful about that, and I know the supporters have supported that decision, so that’s great.”
