Attention now turns to the play-offs with some mouth-watering semi-final encounters taking place on Wednesday evening.
In the Pitching In Southern League Division One Central, Waltham Abbey, who finished fourth on 61 points from their 36 games, head to AFC Dunstable, who finished one place and three places above them.
“It’s going to be a huge challenge,” admitted the Abbotts’ wide-man, Ben Baker. “There are three strong sides in the play-offs with us, all of which have different qualities, so we know we’ll have to be at the top of our game to achieve our goal.
“AFC Dunstable are a young, energetic team that play nice football so we will prepare accordingly for that challenge and take it step by step.
“As a team we’ll make sure we are aligned on our tactical setup, shape and mentality. Our preparation will be the same and hopefully it can lead to a winning performance.
“It’s been a crazy League with everyone beating each other, which makes it really tough to build any momentum. I’d imagine it has been pretty exciting to watch and I’m sure that will continue into the play-offs.
“Overall, it’s been a strong season for us. As with any campaign, there’s been lots of ups and downs, but I think we’ve shown great mentality to grind out important results at key times.
“We’ve achieved our objective of reaching the play-offs so that’s positive, but hopefully we can go one better now.”
Baker will be looking to supply front-man, Jason Hallett, who has six goals to his name from the last seven games.
Hallett admits that his side go into the game as underdogs, but knows that if they reach the standards that they have shown since his arrival over the festive period, they will give themselves every chance of making it through to Monday’s final.
“We’ve got nothing to lose,” he told us. “We’re the underdogs, so we’ll go out there with no pressure and look to reach the levels that we know we are capable of.
“If we can do that, then we have every chance; the management have done their homework, as they always do, so we go there knowing exactly what we need to do and with a clear plan in our minds.
“I only joined the club over Christmas but I know the target from the start of the season has been to get to the play-offs and we go into them in good form and determined to make our mark.
The other play-off semi-final in Division One Central sees Bedford Town, who were pipped to the title, play host to Ware.
Please note that all play-off semi-finals across our four divisions are played over one leg only.
IMAGE: Mandy Davies
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