SWINDON Supermarine may be gearing up for two consecutive clashes with top-five rivals but manager Dave Webb doesn’t reckon these upcoming encounters will fully determine who finishes in the Division One South & West play-off positions.

Marine, who are fourth in the table, lock horns with second-placed Taunton Town at the end of the month, but tomorrow, they make the short trip to fifth-placed North Leigh.

Webb’s men, who saw their clash with Evesham United on Tuesday postponed due to a frozen pitch, are unbeaten in 10 league matches and face a tough test against the Yellows.

But according to the Webb’s Wood Stadium chief, his side’s trip to bottom-of-the-table Bashley on February 2 represents the kind of game that will prove most vital in the long run.

“Our next two games are going to be difficult and we’d love to try and stay unbeaten but if we don’t, I don’t think it’s going to define where we finish,” said Webb.

“As we saw last weekend with Bridgwater beating North Leigh, anybody can beat anybody in our league and it’s games like our trip to Bashley that are going to matter.

“The matches against the teams in the bottom half of the table are going to be the most important for the rest of the season. If we can pick up points when we play those sides, we’ve got a good chance of finishing in that top five.

“We know that North Leigh are going to be a good side. They were top of the league for a long time and when we played them earlier in the season (on September 19), we were the first team to beat them.

but they beat us comfortably in the Red Insure Cup (in October).

“They’ve got experienced players in every single position and it’s kind of like a local derby for us because they’ve got a lot of Swindon-based players in their team.

“They’ve been inside the top five for pretty much all of the season, which is a great achievement.

“We’re playing well and the players are enjoying their football, so we should be able to go there and get something.”

Marine are set to welcome back midfielder Ryan O’Hara for their trip to North Leigh.

but Josh Morse and Joe Shepherd still aren’t fit enough to return from their respective ankle injuries.

Goalkeeper Matt Bulman, who has a knee injury, remains a long-term absentee.