Marc Benterman on having 12 games left to keep Haverhill Rovers in the Thurlow Nunn League Premier Division

Marc Benterman knows it is now or never for Haverhill Rovers in their fight to avoid relegation from the Thurlow Nunn League Premier Division.

Rovers are now 15 points adrift of safety at the bottom of the table following last weekend’s results, which saw 18th-placed Brantham Athletic increase that gap with a 3-0 win against Soham Town Rangers.

Meanwhile at The JR Crane Services Hub, The New Croft, Benterman’s side ran second-placed Ipswich Wanderers close in a 3-2 defeat, with a goal on debut from new signing Eusebio Da Silva and a late Ryan Weaver penalty.

A trip to Fakenham Town (16th) is next up for Rovers on Saturday (3pm) and, with only 12 league games left to go, Benterman is well aware that results are needed now to avoid dropping down to Step 6.

“We’re going to throw everything at it,” the Rovers boss said. “We’ve got 12 games to go and eight or nine games against teams in and around us, so we know what we’ve got to do.

“It’s never easy with the situation coming in and you’ve got to try and create an environment and change the culture. It’s not an easy fix.

“We’ve had six or seven games where we’ve had to try people out. Now you can see the squad has settled down in the last four games.

“We could be sitting here with more points. Against Mulbarton, two points dropped there, we missed a penalty in the last 10 minutes.

“Long Melford at home we absolutely battered them and couldn’t score and against Thetford they scored in the last minute.

“I thought we deserved something out of the game against Ipswich, who I think have lost only two of their last 20 games.

“To be disappointed to lose 3-2 to them shows you how far we’ve come, but like people say you can’t keep playing well. We need to get points now.

“There’s 12 games to go and 12 cup finals. We’ve now got teams who are sort of four or five places above us and this is where in the season we really need to kick on now.”

On Saturday, new signings in ex-Great Wakering Rovers and Witham Town striker Da Silva, along with centre-half Mike Agboola, who was Benterman’s captain at Basildon United, made their debuts, while experienced frontman Paul Hayes has departed the club.

“Paul’s 39 and we felt that his experience was vital for us at that particular time,” he said.

“But when Eusebio pops up, who is younger, more aggressive, on the front foot, we felt we had to throw everything at it.

“I felt sorry for Paul. He’s a fantastic lad, but it just didn’t work out and those things happen in football. There’s no hard feelings.

“I think he felt absolutely gutted when he missed the penalty against Mulbarton, but it had nothing to do with that.

“We’ve got someone else in that can run the channels and cause teams problems and, after Saturday’s performance, I think we made the right decision.

“It’s nothing personal. In football it’s all about getting to the end goal and ours is trying to keep the club in this division.

“If we can’t keep them up then we have to come back and make sure we win the league next year.”

Rovers take a break from league action to host higher-league Lowestoft Town in the Endeavour Automotive Suffolk Premier Cup on Tuesday (7.45pm).

Haverhill Rovers Women’s home clash with Yaxley Ladies, in the Eastern Region Women’s League Division One North, last Sunday was postponed.