Ottery St Mary host Countess West tomorrow (Saturday) in what looks to be a key game in terms of the Otters bid to be a top four Macron League Division Four side this season.

The Otters, 5-4 winners last Saturday at Morchard Bishop, have played more games than most in the section which looks to have three teams, Uplowman, Kentisbeare and Thorverton moving away to contest the top three places.

Thereafter it is very much a case of ‘like for like’ with most teams on an equal footing with Ottery looking to have as good a chance as any of finishing in a top four slot.

Ottery reach the halfway stage of their league season tomorrow having played twelve matches - nine of them at home!

That all means they will have just three more home games left!

That is a situation which will not please the club treasurer, for having just three home games between Christmas and the end of the season is a ridiculous state of affairs!

Back to the Countess Wear visit and the Otters are without the influential Adam Harris and Tom Purdy – the latter was named Man of the Match at Morchard Bishop. Both players picked up injuries in what was quite a physical contest last Saturday.

Otters boss Dave Fairweather says: “Losing the pair is a huge blow, but, as ever, it offers an opportunity to others and we are able to name a strong and competitive 15 for the Countess Wear game.”

He continued: “I see this as a massive game in the context of our season.

“We have yet to record back-to-back wins and this is a real opportunity to not only do that, but to also put a bit of daylight between us and Countess Wear in the table.

“For my money, it is once again all about how we perform.

“The lads trained well in midweek and, as long as we can cut out the silly individual errors that are spoiling what are generally very good performances of late, and also play the high-tempo pressing game we are capable of, then we will be OK.”