JON Higgins believes the next few weeks will be crucial in shaping Dudley Kingswinford’s season.

The Heathbrook side have lost six of their first seven games since being promoted to National Two North.

But every opponent they have faced so far is fighting it out at the top of the division and DK now have a run of fixtures against teams around them in the lower reaches, starting with Saturday’s trip to winless Westoe.

Joint head coach Higgins described it as a “must-win” game.

He said: “They have not won a game so far and really are struggling.

“It’s vital we win games like this if we want to survive in this league, we have to beat the teams around us.

“It’s a long old trip up there but we’ve got a full squad to choose from.” For the third time in four home games, DK came within minutes of victory before losing 18-13 to Preston Grasshoppers last Saturday.

Though they sit just outside the bottom three, Higgins feels they should be encouraged by their performances.

He added: “We played a lot better against Preston and managed to cut out a lot of the silly penalties which have really blighted us in the past few weeks.

“We keep on improving, it’s not like all is lost.

“With a bit more luck we would have won three or four home games.

“As it is we have just not picked up the points and that’s what we have to put right over the next few weeks.”