Ottery St Mary return to action on Saturday (January 5) following the festive break and they will do so looking to set a new ‘club best’ in terms of recent record keeping.

The Otters make the short trip to East Budleigh looking to claim a ninth successive victory.

Ottery boss Dave Fairweather says: “To be very honest I am not thinking about win number nine. No, I send the team out looking to win every game and this one really does need to be approached as being ‘just another game’.

He continued: “The run we are enjoying is, of course, very special, but each game is merely part of a bigger picture which, at our football club, is all about continuing to grow, develop and improve our situation.”

Ottery have already met East Budleigh this season, going down 3-2 when the sides met at Washbrook Meadow back in September.

Fairweather has a vivid memory of that day! He says: “We dominated the game and only the footballing gods will perhaps know why we did not win. Instead it was East Budleigh who left with the points after they scored three goals in the final five minutes.” The Ottery boss expects a different outcome this time round. He says: “It’s not me being arrogant when I say I send my team out each matchday ‘expecting’ to see them win. I see it more of a confidence thing born out of my knowledge of how good my players can be together when they are all switched onto the same mindset of how we are going to play the game.

“We trained on New Year’s Day when the mood of the team was good and they worked hard. I don’t want to make a big thing of potentially winning a ninth straight game.

“Indeed, quite the opposite, for me it’s all about us concentrating on what we want to do, imposing ourselves on the contest and making sure we get the game done.”

East Budleigh head into tomorrow’s meeting having seen precious little action over the past two months.

Indeed, they have played just once since November 10 - that a December 1, 4-2 success at Clyst Valley. Ironically, East Budleigh go into the contest looking for a fourth straight win - their run of victories has come after their last defeat which, like Ottery, was at the hands of University! In East Budleigh’s case that loss was a 4-1, October 27 defeat while, for the Otters, the loss to the students was 6-2 under the Washbrook Meadow floodlights back on September 26!

The first weekend of 2019 also sees action for the club’s ladies, who have a Sunday (2pm) meeting with Budleigh Salterton.

The Otterettes last played on December 2 when they won 1-0 at Seaton where leading scorer Meg Williams scored her 18th goal of the season - from just seven starts too!

There’s also action on Sunday for the Ottery Under-18s who, like the ladies, kick-off at 2pm. In their case it’s on the top pitch at Washbrook Meadow with the opposition provided by Broadclyst.