Gavin Macpherson says the players must keep their feet on the ground as we take on high-flying Eastbourne on Tuesday hoping for another giant leap towards staying in the division.

The re-arranged fixture, originally postponed because of the weather, represents our game in hand over Welling and a chance to stretch our lead over them while in the only other game of the night we could ironically do with Chesham finding some form against Salisbury who have suddenly been pulled into the mix.

Gavin is fully aware that playing twice a week (last week, this week and next week at Hornchurch) can take its toll compared to full-time sides like fifth-paced Eastbourne who beat us 1-0 in the corresponding fixture.

The Sports also have the incentive of needing to bounce back after a surprise 3-0 defeat at the weekend.

“Eastbourne are an excellent footballing side. They probably trained Sunday or Monday whereas we have to turn up on the night and have a briefing,” said Gav. “That’s the difference when you’re not full-time.”

Hearing his name chanted by the Town fans on Saturday as we extended our unbeaten run to seven games certainly didn’t go unnoticed. “Even in tough times, people have never wavered from supporting me which is very humbling. The key is to keep the boys’ minds firmly on the job in hand with 14 games left.”

At least one key player will be unavailable on Tuesday though Henry Hawkins should be back and Jack Smith has put himself in the frame after an eye-catching 40 or so minutes at Chesham.

“I’ve never disputed Smudger as a player, it’s all about his fitness after the unfortunate pre-season that he had,” explained Gav. “I felt he needed to go out and play some games somewhere but he felt he didn’t want to. When a team is trying to get results, you can’t afford to carry anyone. He had some really good touches and one great cross-field ball on Saturday but you could see he’s still lacking from a fitness standpoint.”

AW