MANAGER-of-the-moment Downton's Jeff Softley would love nothing better than to ram Darren Crooks's words back down his throat by slaying another Sydenhams Wessex League giant at Wick Lane tonight.

Just three days after pulling off the coup of the season by beating champions Winchester City 4-3, the relegation-battling Robins tonight host Lymington & New Milton, who sit just eight points behind table-topping City with three games in hand.

When Lymington frontrunner Darren Crook heard Downton's scoreline on Saturday, he was quickly on the phone to their assistant boss, Terry Pyke, who he knows from his Bemerton Heath Harlequins days.

Softley, himself a former manager of Bemerton's reserves, said: "Apparently Crooky said 'We'll stuff you on Tuesday' and beating Winchester must have been a fluke.

"But my answer is how can it be a fluke when you've played a team like Winchester over 90 minutes? It was a strong Winchester team too. It had to be because they're trying to win the league.

"Neil (Winchester City manager Neil Hards) said he'd never seen a Downton side play football the way we did and didn't know how we were down at the bottom. He said we were tremendous and told us to keep it going.

"I hope we can. It would be sad to go down after beating the top team."

After losing 5-0 at Fawcetts Field in October, Softley admits it'll be a tall order for the Robins to repeat their heroics against Lymington tonight - and, indeed, at title-chasing Gosport Borough on Saturday.

"God help us!" he laughed. "Lymington are an awesome side - the best we've played all season.

"They'll get a shock tonight though, and I can guarantee they won't beat us 5-0 again.

"Realistically the next two games are going to be tough and if we can get something out of them, so much the better. But what will disappoint me now is if we play against the middle sides and don't beat them."

Unluckily for Downton, Saturday's man-of-the-match Kevin Thick is unable to play tonight. The left-sided midfielder hurt his ankle in the incident which saw Winchester keeper Simon Arthur sent off for a second bookable offence.

"Hopefully it's just bruising and he'll be OK for Saturday," said Softley. "We'll miss him because he's our main outlet. He's a very underrated player and wouldn't look out of place in the Winchester side."

Saturday's result was all the more remarkable considering it came on the back of Downton's 6-1 midweek hammering by Brockenhurst.

Four-goal Jason Lovell, who did the bulk of the damage, misses the Badgers' home game against Hamworthy United tonight with a back injury and Mark Isaacson is sidelined with ankle trouble.