Confidence high ahead of run-in

3:16pm Thursday 27th March 2008

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GRAHAM Heathcote said his Alty side remain fully confident of avoiding the drop despite the tough run-in ahead of them.

The Alty boss isn't getting too carried away after Monday's 2-0 win over second bottom Stafford Rangers, which lifted the Robins back out of the Blue Square Premier relegation zone.

But he insisted belief is high in the Moss Lane dressing room ahead of Saturday's game against second-placed Torquay United.

"In our dressing room we have far from given up hope that we can stay in this division," said Heathcote. "You only have to look at the game against Aldershot to see that.

"We did ever so well against the likely league winners but didn't get the result.

"Monday's win was an important one though, although it came against a poor side. Saturday's game against Torquay will be the exact opposite and it's going to be tough to pick up the result.

"The next six games are about grinding out the results we need.

"I have looked at where we can pick up points in our remaining fixtures and, as it stands, we are coming up a bit short so somewhere along the line we'll have to pick up a shock result.

"But that type of result always does happen, no-one would have predicted Weymouth would beat Exeter at the weekend."

The Robins manager also called once more on the Moss Lane faithful to get fully behind the team, as they look to beat the odds on the pitch.

He said: "All the other teams involved in the battle have more resources available to them and are able to prepare better for games.

"The team we are playing on Saturday is staying up for four days after the game because they're playing Droylsden on Tuesday night, while we get one evening training session before the game - it just highlights the difference.

"We can't generate the funds to match that, the only way we'd be able to properly compete is if someone invested heavily in the club.

"Both myself and Geoff have come in for criticism but often people don't fully understand the difficulties we face in running this club.

"But the focus now must be on the last six games and picking up the points we need to stay up."