Daventry Town boss Darran Foster has set his side a maximum points target from their next three fixtures in the Evo-Stik Southern League Division One Central.
Town travel to Northwood on Saturday before hosting Leighton and North Greenford at Communications Park, and with all three of those sides currently sitting in the bottom seven, Foster says nothing less than nine points out of nine will be acceptable.
It’s been a mixed week for Daventry, who followed up their excellent 4-2 win over title-chasing Royston on Saturday with a frustrating 0-0 draw with Aylesbury on Tuesday night, with Foster rueing another night of missed chances - skipper Guy Sanders hitting the bar with a penalty - in a game where he said Town ‘battered’ their rivals.
But it was still two points dropped by Daventry, and Foster says there is no room for error over the next three fixtures.
“Our next three games are massive now, very important,” admitted Foster, whose side stayed seventh following Tuesday’s draw but are now six points off the play-off places.
“They are all against teams in the bottom part of the table, and we can have no excuses.
“We need maximum points from these fixtures, because we have Slough at home on the Tuesday after these games, and that will be a tough one.
“We look at things in small steps, and it is important for us to go out and get nine points on the board.
“If we can go that, it will mean we have picked up 14 points out of a possible 18, and that is play-off form, and that is the sort of form we need to be maintaining.”
Foster has an almost fully fit squad to pick from, with Callum Burgess and Josh Holford both likely to be available for selection for Saturday.
The only absentee is Marcel Simpson who is still out as he is suffering with a flu virus.
Foster had warned his side against complacency going into the Aylesbury game following their win over Royston, and despite not beating the Moles, Foster was delighted with the effort of his players.
“The commitment of the lads is fantastic at the moment and it has been for two or three weeks now,” he said.
“We have to keep that going.
“There were a couple of teams which slipped up on Tuesday night, so we’ve not lost that much ground, and we just have to stay in touch with the play-offs and try and get in there.”