REDDITCH United are facing one of the most important weekends in the club's history, despite the prospect of not a ball being kicked on Saturday.

With the Reds handed a blank weekend by the Conference North fixture list, manager Gary Whild will be anxiously following the fortunes of the three teams below his side at the foot of the table.

For much of the season, United have either been in the relegation zone or have known the sides beneath them can reel them back into the mire by winning games in hand, but that could be set to change on Saturday.

Worksop Town, immediately below United, trail the Reds by two points with two games in hand but were set to host Droylsden last night (Tuesday) before visiting Barrow on Saturday (ko 3pm).

Whild was planning to take in the Droyslden match and there is little doubt who he was set to be cheering on.

Second-from-bottom Leigh RMI, two points shy of Redditch with a game-in-hand, host Hyde on Saturday and basement boys Hednesford Town, three below the Reds with a game on them, are at home to Worcester City.

If the results go United's way the club could be free of the bottom two for the first time in a troubled season and the significance was not lost on Whild.

"For a while now the talk has been about the games in hand other clubs have on us," he said. "They seem to forever have been behind us in games and at one point teams had played three or four less fixtures.

"But that has slowly been whittled away and from my experience I have always said the points are better off in the bag.

"In this league games in hand don't mean much and that has been borne out."

Far from taking a weekend off, Whild was set to pencil in another fixture on saturday, with the Hednesford and Worcester clash the likeliest option.

The Reds boss is hoping the break for his troops will allow full-backs Damien Whitcombe and Ian King to recover from minor injuries suffered at work which ruled them out of Saturday's 4-0 mauling from Kettering.