AS the season heads into the final ten games of the season, there remains plenty to play for as far as Worcester Raiders, Malvern Town and Pershore Town are concerned.
Karl Gormley's Raiders still have a mathematical chance of finishing in the top two in the Hellenic Premier, but those incredibly slender hopes still rely on Malvern Town enduring a major collapse.
The gap was closed to 15 points last weekend when Raiders capitalised on Malvern's shock defeat at Thornbury Town. With two games in hand still, Raiders could cut that advantage to nine points but it remains a long-shot at best.
1⃣8⃣ goals in our last 3⃣ at Sixways!
— Worcester Raiders FC (@WorcsRaidersFC) March 3, 2023
Let's hope for a few more tomorrow at 3pm!#WeAreRaiders | #UTR pic.twitter.com/i5xG6I338H
That being said, Raiders will want to finish their first season at Step 5 as strongly as possible and they host a struggling Bradford Town side at Sixways on Saturday, looking to build on last weekend's thumping 7-0 win over Chipping Sodbury Town.
"It is vital we now go on a run," said boss Gormley after the big win.
"We have spoken to the lads in recent weeks about not letting the season peter out. We have worked so hard to get to where we are, we want to finish as high as we can.
"Finishing third would be a huge achievement for this football club. A lot of teams wrote us off at the start of the season due to it being our first at this level, so we won't take our foot of the gas now and we want to finish the season really strongly."
As for Malvern, their defeat at lowly Thornbury was costly and saw them drop to second in the table, with Cribbs now one point ahead and with two games in hand.
It now looks like a big ask to win the title, but co-managers Stephen Cleal and Lee Hooper will be keen to not let that affect them too much, as they remain in firm control of finishing in the top two, which should ensure promotion.
They are at home to mid-table Shrivenham this weekend and will be hoping to get back on the horse with a victory.
Into Division One and Pershore Town remain on course to win the league title with 11 games left to play. They hold a four-point lead at the top of the division, but with Milton United lurking, they can ill-afford any slip-ups.
The Plums are away at relegation-threatened Littleton this Saturday, where they will be hoping to record a fifth win in a row in all competitions.
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