MANAGER Dave Webb has challenged his Swindon Supermarine troops to make one final fist of their play-off fight ahead of this weekend’s trip to Yate Town.

A shock 1-0 defeat at home to Paulton Rovers last Saturday means Marine face a near-impossible task of finishing in the top five in Southern League Division One South & West as they have slipped to seventh in the table, eight points behind Evesham United in the last of the play-off places.

Webb says nothing less than a perfect haul of 15 points over the final five games of the season will do for Marine, although even that may not be enough for the South Marston side to achieve their ambitions.

“I think we have got to win every game now. We have got five games left and we need to win all five, but if we play at the level we did last weekend, we won’t be winning many, that’s for sure,” said Webb.

“It’s up to the players now what they do and how they respond to Saturday. We have talked about trying to finish as high as we can and hopefully we can go to Yate and get a positive result.

“We have got to move on from the last game and try to win the next one and hope that either Evesham or Salisbury, whoever is going to fall into fifth spot, have a bad run.

“Evesham are eight points clear of us and Mangotsfield are above us as well now – they probably think they have still got a chance of reaching the play-offs.

“With five games to go, we need to win all five and see if that is enough but I have got a funny feeling that we will look back on Saturday as being one of the pivotal moments for us.”

With both Hereford and Salisbury currently competing in the Southern League Division One South & West as they continue their climbs back up the football pyramid, the battle for promotion was going to be harder than ever this season.

After a winless February, Marine galvanised themselves by taking 13 of the first 15 points available in March, which made their stumble against Paulton all the more disappointing.

“It is going to be tough to get into the play-offs now and it was always going to be tough this season,” said Webb.

“That’s what hurts me more than anything else – the players have been magnificent of late and got themselves in with a chance. We had done the hard work, we had gone to difficult places and won.

“To work so hard to give yourself every chance of reaching the play-offs, and I firmly believed we could do it, but to play like that last Saturday now means it’s virtually impossible.”