Team captain Mike Hyem says Huntingdon Town are ready to push on for second place now that Spalding United have won promotion to Step 4 and have the United Counties League title sewn up.

There was disappointment at Cogenhoe United last night when Huntingdon lost 2-1, their first defeat in 18 games – and that result handed the title to Spalding who, before the game, were just a one point swing away being crowned champions after they beat AFC Kempston Rovers 4-2 on Saturday and Huntingdon beat second-placed Deeping Rangers 2-1.

Talking to The Hunts Post before the trip to Cogenhoe, Hyem said: “I’ll be disappointed if we don’t get second now. We are in a good position now so just need to keep the run going.”

Huntingdon beat Deeping for the third time this season with goals from Stuart Eason and Declan Rogers. The previous Wednesday they beat Rothwell Corinthians 2-0 in the quarter-finals of the UCL Cup with both goals coming from Ben Seymour-Shove. The team has already made it to the end-of-season final of the Hinchingbrooke Cup.

“We need to keep our run going in the league and take that form into the Hinchingbrooke Cup final and the League Cup semi against Boston Town,” added Hyem. And who will be waiting for them in the final of the UCL Cup? None other than Deeping, of course, who beat Wellingborough Whitworth 5-0 in their semi on Tuesday night.

Again, before the disappointment of Cogenhoe, Huntingdon manager Seb Hayes said: “We need 16 points from our last eight games. We will be doing everything possible to get them.”

Rogers scored goal 27 of the season on Tuesday to draw level with Seymour-Shove in the race for the golden boot.

On Saturday the team are at home to bottom-of-the-table Stewarts & Lloyd. It should be the kind of mismatch that breeds goals.