Sidmouth Town go into tomorrow’s South West Peninsula League Eastern Division home meeting with Brixham looking to continue their push to get away from the lower regions of the table.

Town head into the game sitting 11 points and four places off the bottom two places, but they have played more games than any of the sides below them.

With the games starting now to come thick and fast, Town boss Josh Stunell says: “We of course did not play yet again last weekend [the Appledore meeting was postponed owing to a waterlogged Manstone Lane], but some teams did and a look at the table before the Thursday night game at Bovey Tracey [where basement side Liverton were the visitors] shows that we do have a cushion between us and the bottom two.

“I accept that they all have games in hand on us and in normal circumstances that might be an issue, but, as we have seen this term, this has been an exceptional one in terms of all the postponements and it means teams are playing two – and sometimes three – times a week and that’s never easy.”

He continued: “I am not saying we can stand easy now – far from it – and I still think we need a couple more wins. That said, if I could take six points from the next three games [after the Brixham visit, Town host title-chasing Newton Abbot Spurs on April 21, before an April 25, midweek visit to Alphington] I’d be confident that we’d then have sufficient in the bank to see us finish mid-table.”

Indeed, the Town boss has his eye on things higher up the table, something he alluded to when he said: “I don’t think it’s out of the question that we could yet catch Axminster Town, and, for me, that’s a target over our final six games.”

One thing at the forefront of the Town boss’s thinking is next Wednesday night’s (April 18) Devon Senior Cup final when the Vikings second string meet fellow Macron League Division One side Colyton at the Coach Road, Newton Abbot home of the Devon FA (7.30pm).

Stunell says: “It’d be wrong for us not to have an eye on that big game. Let’s face it, cup finals do not come along every season and nights like next Wednesday are big, big nights, for both club and individual players. Against that, this is the time of year when, at a club with multiple teams, as we have, you want to be giving second and third team players a chance in the seniors side, but at the same time, those players are no doubt champing at the bit to prove their worth for a place in the second team for the final and if they were to come along and sit on the bench for the first team, they are then being denied that opportunity to stake a claim for a cup final berth. All these things have to taken into consideration.”

Back to more immediate matters and the home game with Brixham and Stunell says: “When we played down there [Brixham], back in November, we were woeful and only got away with a point thanks to a late penalty. This is a game I certainly see us targeting three points from and that’s going to be the mission.”

“After that we can all relax a little and get along to Coach Road on Wednesday night to give the second team our support.”