LEE Peacock has promised Town fans they can look forward to an exciting season's climax after revealing his belief in Town's play-off push has never been stronger.

Speaking on the eve of Maurice Malpas' new Town regime, Peacock insists their new boss will have a lot to build on after watching Saturday's 2-2 draw at high-flying Walsall from the stands.

Peacock himself revealed Malpas has already given him a few pointers on how to be a more effective midfielder but, with the season now on the home straight, he insists a top six spot is far from unreachable.

A six-match unbeaten run sees Town lying in 12th spot in League One, eight points behind the final play-off spot with a game in hand, and Peacock is looking forward to a strong season's end for the Robins.

He said: "There is a lot to build on here. The new gaffer will obviously have his own ideas about who and how he wants to play. He has been watching the last four games and is going to pick his own team - it might be totally different to what is playing at the moment.

"But he has a good idea of who to let leave and who to bring in. I hear the rumours about people going and interest in certain players. I think we have enough already though to get in the play-offs.

"There is no reason why we can't do that. If we believe in ourselves a bit more, like we did in the second half, then we will have a really good season.

"It is all down to us on the pitch. I can't see the gaffer being a million miles from what Paul Sturrock is. They played together for years and the foundations they have are similar.

"We have no excuses now because the takeover is sorted. We will do good this season, I thoroughly beieve that. It is not that we should do good - it is more like we will do good."

Going into the clash on the back of a 17-match unbeaten run, Walsall were strong favourites, but by the end Peacock admits his side could not help but be disappointed at returning to Wiltshire with just a point.

"I am over the moon for the lads," said Peacock. "We showed so much character and I am proud of the bottle we showed.

"The pitch was terrible so we were never going to get it down. We went slightly longer after the break and squeezed up and tried to get the seconds. We got wide, and got balls in the box. We created chances.

"I know work ethic will have to be there and if you have that you can't go far wrong. If we are working hard we will at least get a draw away from home and we need to emphasise how we want to play at home.

"We will find out a lot in the next few weeks. It is going to be interesting. The gaffer has taken over in the January window and everyone will have to up their game. Everyone is on trial again."

While Dave Byrne and Ady Williams continued in their caretaker managers' role on Saturday, manager-in-waiting Malpas was not just reduced to a watching brief.

Peacock said: "The gaffer came in and said we played to the conditions in the second half and did well. In the first half I don't think we particularly did that. We looked a bit scared of the conditions.

"The gaffer took more of a backseat but had a few words with a couple of individuals about what he saw. He told me to stop running around so much. He felt I was doing a little too much and that I was trying to do other people's jobs.

"I don't feel I am doing other people's jobs but you want to be on the ball and If I haven't touched the ball for a bit I tend to go chasing it. I am a bit impatient and he is right in what he is saying.

"We are just gutted we let the second goal in so quickly after taking the lead but that is exactly what they have done as well.

"We will learn from the mistakes. The gaffer picked up on a couple of points after the game even though he was not in control."