Lynn boss Paul Caddis wants his players to keep their feet on the ground as they prepare to welcome managerless Southport to The Walks tomorrow.

The Linnets are riding a wave of confidence after another positive result at Merthyr Town last weekend, although they came away disappointed not to have claimed three points.

That frustration, however, is something the Lynn boss believes demonstrates just how far his side have come since narrowly avoiding relegation at the end of last season.

“The most pleasing aspect was actually that disappointment after the game because trying to change the mentality at a football club is the most difficult thing to do,” said Caddis.

“Last year, there’s no two ways about it, you get in a habit of losing games of football and everything is doom and gloom.

“We wanted to come in and bring our own imprint into things. We’ve done that, but you have to get the buy-in from the players, which has been absolutely brilliant.

“Amongst all that disappointment there was a real positive there that the dressing room was genuinely disappointed we didn’t get three points.”

Lynn’s recent form has propelled them towards the top end of the National League North table, with Caddis particularly pleased by his side’s attacking statistics.

“We’re the joint-top goalscorers in the division. In terms of the first-half table we’re top of it clearly, and in the second-half table we’re fourth in the division,” he said.

“There’s loads of positives, loads and loads of positives. However, as I’ve said, football, if you get complacent, it will bite you in the backside.”

Saturday’s visitors arrive at The Walks following the surprise departure of manager Matt Duffy, who had been in charge for less than three weeks.

Caddis knows Duffy personally from their time together at Birmingham City and admitted he was shocked by the news.

“I know Matt Duffy personally, I played with Duffy at Birmingham. Really nice lad, unfortunate, I think it was 19 days he was in post.

“Honestly, I have no idea what’s gone on but it can come with its challenges.

“A new man might come in but will they have enough time to implement what they want to do?”

Despite the uncertainty surrounding Southport, Caddis insists his side’s preparations will remain largely unchanged.

“We give the players as much information as we can on the opposition and then we focus solely on ourselves.

“We present to the players on Friday with analysis of what we expect the team to be for Southport and how they expect to set up.

“That might completely change. Someone might already be appointed who’s not been announced. I don’t know, someone might be in interim charge.

“We understand that a lot of the time you get that manager bounce when managers come in.

“We’ve got to focus on ourselves, we’re on a brilliant run, we’re at home. We fully expect to go and be as positive as we possibly can and go and get a positive result.”

Lynn will have Aaron Jones available again following a three-match suspension, while Josh McCammon has returned to training after a foot problem.

However, Noah Rubio is struggling with a bacterial infection, Adam Rooney has been hampered by illness and a tight hamstring, and long-term absentee Tom Dickens remains sidelined.

The club is also awaiting news on whether Jamal Mohammed’s loan spell from West Brom can be extended.