Dean Keates is fully aware of the significance of the Kidderminster Harriers versus Rushden & Diamonds showdown on Saturday. The Harriers midfielder just hopes the Kidderminster townsfolk are.
Second-from-bottom Kidderminster face the team immediately above them at Aggborough, with Keates accepting defeat would leave them staring into the relegation precipice.
"It's a massive game for the club," he said. "I would probably go so far as to say it's the biggest game in the club's history.
"We're four points behind Rushden and we can't afford to lose. We're at home so hopefully everyone in Kidderminster will turn up at Aggborough and not go shopping on Saturday afternoon.
"Hopefully it's going to be a big turn-out and they can get behind the lads.
"The fans have been fantastic all season, not getting on the lads backs. Now we need every one of them to bring their cousins, aunties and uncles down next week to support the lads."
It will be a tensionfilled afternoon but Harriers are enjoying their best sequence all season, with Keates' ice-cool penalty double helping them to a 3-1 win at Notts County on Saturday to extend an unbeaten run to four games.
Having used 41 players this season, the line-up is far more settled, former Walsall midfielder Keates, who joined in February 2004 from Hull City, saying there is a much more optimistic air about the squad.
"We're confident now and we've got to hope we don't run out of games," the 26-year-old said. "We've got nine games left and we are aiming to win every single game. If we do that we will be all right."
Keates kept his nerve in last Saturday's victory at Meadow Lane to slot home two vital spot kicks, though new striker Mark Rawle had initially grabbed the ball to take the first penalty.
Keates said: "Ian Foster is the first-choice penalty-taker but he wasn't involved so I am usually second in line. Mark Rawle was confident he would score and I thought that, being the new boy at a new club, it would get him off to a good start.
"But the message came from the bench that they wanted me to take it so I took the responsibility. There was a lot of pressure on them but I'm confident in my ability and, luckily, they ended up in the back of the net."
