Baillie wants Stratford Town to keep on surprising opponents

BOSS Thomas Baillie hopes Stratford Town can keep surprising people in the Evo-Stik South Premier Central as they continue their play-off charge.

Town currently sit eighth in the table and are just two points outside the play-offs as the second half of the campaign approaches.

And having lost just one of their last ten league outings – that being a 2-1 defeat at Needham Market last month – Baillie hopes Stratford’s impressive league form can continue.

“I think we have surprised a few people being so close to the play-off places and we want to keep pushing on,” he said.

“After a difficult start to the season, the results have turned around since I took over and the lads have a new-found confidence.

“We tweaked a few things when we came in and there is a tight bunch of players here who want to succeed.

“We are in a really good position now for a shot at the play-offs but we are also giving ourselves a cushion to the teams which are currently below us in the league table.”

After Tuesday night’s home clash against Coalville Town was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch at the Arden Garages Stadium, Stratford continue their play-off charge on Saturday when they make the trip to 20th-placed St Neots Town.

The Cambridgeshire side were subjected to a 6-1 drubbing at Barwell on Tuesday night but despite this, Baillie is taking nothing for granted.

“I know their manager very well and I expect St Neots to be all fired up for the game as they will have a point to prove after such a heavy defeat,” he said.

“We cannot expect anything from the game so we just have to worry about ourselves and our own game-plan.

“There are no easy games in this division and although we are on a good run of form, we want to keep that going.

“It’s all about us and making sure we do what we know we can do.”

With a home clash against Banbury United on Boxing Day before clashes against Stourbridge and Biggleswade Town on 29th December and 1st January respectively, Stratford are entering a tough run of fixtures.

However, Baillie is confident his players have what it takes to come away with a large share of the spoils.

“It’s a really tough run of fixtures but we must focus on Saturday first,” he added.

“If we win on Saturday and results go our way, we could go up to third which would be a great position to be in at this stage of the season.

“Our games over the Christmas period are going to be tough but like I said before, we just have to worry about ourselves.

“This is a tough league but I don’t think there is a great deal which separates all the teams.

“It all comes down to who gives it their best shot on the day.”