Royals look to make it home, sweet home ...
The Royals – sixth in Southern Midlands One – entertain third-placed Bury Town at Coles Lane tomorrow (3pm) before hosting mid-table Arlesey Town on Monday night (kick off 7.30pm).
Manager Chris Keogh (pictured) believes that Sutton are realistically only chasing one of the sides in the play-offs – fifth-placed Chesham – and is keen for his side to create some pressure.
"I think the top four are away and gone," said Keogh. "But Chesham have the last spot and we are seven points behind with a game in hand.
"We still have to play the top sides at home so if we can take points off them and get on a good run, we can catch them.
"This weekend gives us a chance to put some pressure on the teams above us in the table and we need to really go for it this week.
"We are enjoying a good second half of the season and there's still a lot of football to be played so we will see what happens."
However, Keogh's hopes of challenging for a play-off spot could be hit by a deepening injury crisis.
He was waiting to discover in training last night (Thursday) the extent of injuries to Craig Milligan, Phil Male and Richard Ball (all hamstring) plus Craig Owen and Jamille Matt (both ankle).
"To lose a few players is always going to hit you hard but when they are of the quality of those lads, it's tough," said Keogh.
"Hopefully we can get one or two back because we have a testing time with a lot of games still between now and the end of the season."
Keogh, meanwhile, had mixed thoughts about his side's 2-2 draw at Slough last Saturday and 1-1 draw with Stourport on Monday night.
He said: "Two points from six is a bit disappointing but I can't fault the lads.
"At Slough, we did superbly to comeback from 2-0 down at half-time, so that was a good point won.
"But I felt we should have had all three on Monday night.
"We gave away a sloppy goal but got back into it and then dominated. Sadly for us, their keeper was magnificent.
"It's frustrating when that happens but you can't do anything about it.
"We have played worse this season and won – that's just the nature of football.
"But if we keep performing in the same way that we have been I am sure we will continue to rack up the points."
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