DAVE Diaper says Sholing will have to be at their very best to get any change out of Southern One South & West leaders Merthyr Town at the Silverlake Arena tomorrow.

But if the table-topping Welshman are at the top of their game, he suspects that even a ten out of ten performance from the 17th-placed Boatmen may not be good enough to trouble a side who have banged in 101 league goals and lost just two of their last 19.

“If we’re at our best and Merthyr are too, they will win because of the quality they’ve got,” he said.

“We’ve proved we can be hard to beat when we need to be, but this is a bit of a special team we’ve got coming tomorrow – especially as they only need two wins and a draw for automatic promotion.”

Merthyr’s progress was checked last Saturday by a 0-0 draw at Shortwood.

They had a dream chance to win it early in the second half, but ex-Saint Kayne McLaggon had his tame penalty saved.

“Them drawing 0-0 makes it worse,” said Diaper, suspecting it will only fuel the Martyrs’ hunger to make amends.

“I went down there (as chairman) in September when we lost 7-1 and we were actually 1-0 up at half-time. But they came out all guns blazing second half and knocked seven past us.

“Kayne McLaggon didn’t even score that day and that’s what makes them so dangerous. It’s not just one or two front players you have to watch out for, they score for fun from anywhere on the field.”

All that said, Diaper wants his players to relish tomorrow’s challenge rather than dread it.

“You’ve got to look forward to games like this,” he said.

“Merthyr’s quality will shine through without a doubt, but we shouldn’t go into it with fear.

“We’re playing in front of our own crowd and we need to make it as difficult for them as we can.”

Matt Brown will be back in goal, but towering centre-back Dan Miller has college commitments and Jess Walklin remains injured.

Centre-back Pete Castle trained this week on his return from a damaged quad muscle, but Diaper said: “He’s feeling pretty stiff.”

Sholing handed a debut to new loan signing Lewis Blackmore from Gosport Borough in their 2-0 defeat at Tiverton last week.

“He came through ok,” said Diaper. “I played him just behind the frontman, but it was difficult because he’d had no training session with us and, when you don’t know the players, you don’t know what runs to make. He didn’t even know anyone’s name!”

Sholing’s Easter Monday game against Bashley (1pm) will be ‘pay what you want’ at the turnstiles. Admission for adults will be at their discretion (minimum £1) but all kids will get in free.