BROMSGROVE Sporting boss Brendan Kelly says Sutton Coldfield Town could be a dangerous prospect due to being free of promotion pressure.

Sutton, along with fellow Southern League Division One Central play-off qualifiers Bedford Town, would be denied promotion if they were to win the play-offs.

This season sees 12 promotion places available for the seven leagues at Bromsgrove's level. The champions all go up with the two play-off winners with the worst league record based on an average of points per game unable to go up. 

The Royals head to the Victoria Ground for Wednesday's semi-final (7.45) with the worst record of the 28 teams to make the end-of-season shoot-out, meaning they would be denied by this season's one-off rule even if they won the play-offs.

It also affects the other semi-final in which Corby Town tackle Bedford, who have the second-worst record nationally, meaning the Rouslers could face clubs that cannot win promotion at both stages of their push. 

However, Kelly thinks the opportunity for former club Sutton to play without pressure could prove a big weapon.

He said: "It's a dangerous fixture and the fact they can't go up could make it even more dangerous in a strange way.

"It means they will come to us with no pressure on them at all. They can relax and enjoy the game and that can be important.

"We'll have to make sure we're fully prepared.

"There was no expectation on us at the start of the season but we've managed to put ourselves in this position. Our whole season will be a glorious failure if we don't complete the job, we owe it to ourselves."

Kelly hopes Sporting's fans will again turn out in force once more.

"Over the summer we talked about the brand of football we wanted to play and that has clearly been a big factor," added Kelly. 

"The fans like what they see and we've been able to increase the attendances again by about 300 on average.

"They have played a massive part in our season and hopefully they can give us one last push."

The Rouslers go into the play-offs knowing their record is too strong to be affected by the rule despite Saturday's 3-1 away loss at Berkhamsted.

On the final-day defeat, Kelly added: "It has been a strange end to the season due to the fact we secured second some time ago and knew we couldn't finish any higher or lower.

"To keep that intensity was difficult and Saturday did feel like a nothing game.

"We rang the changes and the surface was difficult but we still ended the game strongly, which was important for us.

"We'll just move on and make sure we refocus now to get the mentality right for the play-offs."