AFC Sudbury boss Rick Andrews urges players to finish Isthmian League North Division season in strong fashion

Heading into their final four matches AFC Sudbury require just one more point to guarantee home advantage throughout the play-offs as the second-placed side, should they not overturn the six-point gap to leaders Hashtag United.

But ahead of tomorrow’s lunchtime kick-off at Peter Taylor’s Maldon & Tiptree (1pm), Rick Andrews is not interested in going out looking for anything but another three points.

The Yellows manager saw his side record a third straight victory in the Pitching In Isthmian League North Division with Saturday’s 2-0 home success against possible play-off opponents Stowmarket Town.

Both of their first-half goals came from former Stow players in Ben Hunter and Reggie Lambe in a result which ensured anything added to their 82 points total now will put them out of reach of third-placed Lowestoft Town.

The current gap to former AFC boss Jamie Godbold’s side stands at 14 points but with the Trawler Boys having a game in hand after a waterlogged pitch prevented them from playing last weekend.

But they will head into their five-game run-in looking to respond to a 5-3 defeat at Sudbury’s Good Friday opponents Maldon & Tiptree, who have been invigorated by former England boss Taylor’s surprise appointment.

“Yes, it’s incredible,” said Andrews. “He’s done it all, reaching the pinnacle, so I’ll go there and look forward to having a chat with him before the game and hopefully we put on a performance and share a beer afterwards.”

But while Hashtag, who only avoided the gap to AFC closing up to four points with a stoppage-time winner at home to Coggeshall Town on Saturday, are still within range he is firmly fixed on attempting to deliver a fourth straight win.

“We’ve only got a few games left so we’re not going to give up anything just yet,” he said.

“We need to go and win the rest of our games to make sure the confidence is high and if we can do that we’ll set ourselves up nicely for the play-offs.

“If we can secure second early and maybe use an opportunity to rest players for the last game of the season then great, but we’ll look at that nearer the time.”

Tomorrow’s opponents were bottom of the table after 11 matches but are now up to 14th and almost assured of avoiding an inter-step play-off that could lead to relegation.

That game is quickly followed by Easter Monday’s home match with current joint bottom outfit Coggeshall Town (3pm), who ended an eight-game run without a victory by winning at Stow on Tuesday.

But as Andrews is quick to point out, that form does not tell the whole story of the Seedgrowers, who appointed former Long Melford boss Jason Maher in November.

He said: “Jason Maher has obviously brought a lot of players in and he’s trying to gel them and make themselves difficult to beat.

“I think if you look at the results a lot of the games they’ve lost since he’s been there are by the odd goal, just like when we beat them 1-0 at their place (January 1).

“So we expect nothing but a tough game, but our job is to keep winning and send our supporters home happy and hopefully get a big crowd here for the first play-off game, if that’s what the gods have given us.”

Centre-back Joshua Pollard is the only absentee for their Easter games, having suffered a groin injury which has developed into a blood infection.