AFC Sudbury boss Rick Andrews doesn't believe it is a two-horse race with Hashtag United for the title yet

AFC Sudbury manager Rick Andrews takes his league-leading side to third-placed Grays Athletic on Saturday (3pm) with a 15-point advantage over their opponents with 16 games to go – but he doesn’t see his side as now being in a two-horse race.

A come-from-behind 2-1 home win against an in-form mid-table Wroxham outfit on Saturday saw the Yellows to their ninth straight victory and preserved their four-point lead over Hashtag United ahead of the weather seeing Tuesday’s game at Stowmarket Town being postponed again.

But with Grays having won seven of their last eight matches, including their last six on the bounce, Andrews believes they cannot be ruled out of the race for the title along with others who hold games in hand.

“There is lot’s of football to be played and things can change quickly,” he said.

“We’ve seen it with other teams and I use Lowestoft as an example, when we went there (November 19) I think we were four points clear having been behind them. We managed to get a win and all of a sudden that gap becomes 11 or 12.

“You only have to lose one or two and people pick up one or two (wins) and things can change very quickly.

“And you need luck with the season with suspensions and injuries. If we were to get two or three big injuries then it would affect us just like any other side.

“I know it’s a cliché but we only focus on one game as there’s no point trying to be clever and plan ahead because football’s got a habit of kicking you when you least expect it.”

Sudbury saw off Grays with a 3-1 win on November 12, despite captain Reece Harris being sent off after conceding a penalty in the 59th minute with the spot-kick making it 2-1.

But Andrews is expecting one of their toughest games of the season so far on Aveley’s artificial pitch, which Grays share with the fellow Thurrock side.

“They’ve won their last six games so it doesn’t get any easier,” he said.

“There are a lot of interesting games coming up and we’ve got a tough run coming up.

“We just need to make sure we’re in that mix come the last five or six weeks of the season because that is when you will see teams putting more pressure on you, going out knowing you have to win if you have aspirations of winning the league.

“We will just keep ticking along and hopefully pick them up.

“Hashtag have got some difficult games coming up as well so in three weeks’ time we could be third, who knows?”

He added: “If we were to lose two and Hashtag win two we’ve all of a sudden gone from four points clear to two behind and then we’ve got to play them and if they beat us (away, February 25) they could be five ahead in the space of three games.

“The boys have done really well again, I think Hashtag are probably a little bit pig-sick of seeing us come back and winning games from behind but it’s a good group. They don’t know when they’re beaten so it’s great.”

Andrews has no injury concerns ahead of Saturday’s game.

Reflecting on their ninth straight victory, the 2-1 come-from-behind home win against an in-form mid-table Wroxham said, he said: “Wroxham came with a game-plan, they set up with a 4-1-4-1 and tried to catch us on the break, and I think we dominated the first half.

“It was then just a casual mistake from our throw-in and they’ve punished us.

“As we’ve said before, that’s what teams in this league are capable of doing.

“We came in at half-time and weren’t too harsh on ourselves as we had played well and just said sometimes mistakes happen.

“We re-iterated that we’ve been in this position many times before and we just had to keep patient playing the way we were playing knowing that we would get opportunities.

“When they presented themselves we hoped we could put them away, which we did.

“To get that goal so early was a positive and then we’ve seen it a few times when we finally get that breakthrough then the other team has to come out and the game became a bit more open.

“To be fair to Wroxham they had a late chance when the boy headed the other side of the post. If it had of gone in I would have felt harshly done by but luckily for us it didn’t go in.

“It was an important three points. It is 12 wins on the spin at home which is nice for your supporters.”

The game also saw a change in formation with in-form Josh Mayhew remaining in the team to partner Nwachuku up front, with Andrews pleased with how it looked.

“Josh has done extremely well in Nnamdi’s absence, he has given us another dimension,” he said.

“He holds the ball up well and wins lots of headers so we felt it only right that continues so we tweaked the formation slightly.

“I thought they linked up well so that was another positive for us.”

Of Nnamdi’s return, following his visit to help out in his parents’ village in Nigeria, he said: “He did well. It was his first game in three or four weeks.

“To get 90 minutes out of him was a bonus. He was obviously chomping at the bit to play and I thought him and Josh had good games.”