Rick Andrews insists his Stowmarket Town side’s focus is on the teams below them rather than the top two, writes Alex Moss.
The Old Gold and Blacks picked up where they left off from in 2017 with a 4-1 win away at Ipswich Wanderers last weekend.
The victory at Humber Doucy Lane stretched their winning run to five games, but also saw them move to within two points of second-placed Coggeshall Town, after they lost 2-1 at Histon.
A win for Stow at home to Fakenham Town tomorrow afternoon (3pm), coupled with a defeat for Coggeshall in their home clash with fourth-placed Brantham Athletic, would see them move back into second spot.
The Essex side would still have three games in hands on Stow to claw back the one-point deficit, and Andrews admits talk in the changing room among his players has not included whether they can catch either of the top two sides.
“We don’t even talk about it, to be honest,” the Stow boss said. “As far as everyone else is concerned, the league is done. It’s just who’s going to win it, Felixstowe or Coggeshall.
“Everyone else is talking about it being a two-horse race and that suits us. We’ve got teams chasing us, like Brantham and Godmanchester.
“There’s lots of twists to go. Coggeshall lost to Histon, who they beat 4-0 at their place only three weeks ago, so there’s still lots to happen.
“Pressure affects teams in different ways. One thing I would say is that we’re enjoying it, the players are enjoying it.
“We can’t change anything. It’s out of our hands, all we can do is keep trying to win games. If we’re doing that then everyone’s happy at the end of the 90 minutes and we can look forward to the next game.”
Six goals in his last four games has seen striker Josh Mayhew move on to 37 goals for the season. A hat-trick tomorrow would get him to the 40-goal mark with 17 games to spare.
Andrews should be boosted by the return of defender David Kempson this weekend.
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