Castle eyes safety

11:25am Tuesday 22nd April 2008

St Albans city boss Steve Castle wants his side to secure their Blue Square South safety with a convincing victory' over Maidenhead United tonight.

Last night's (Monday's) 3-3 draw between fellow strugglers Weston-Super-Mare and Basingstoke has put Heaths' batting Saints in a strong position to ensure survival, three points ahead of them in 19th position with a game in hand.

Saints need just a point at York Road tonight but Castle has ordered his men to treat be professional and treat the game as any other as he is acutely aware his side can still be relegated if they lose their final two games and Weston-Super-Mare win their one.

"We've still got something to do together tonight," said Castle. "If we lose both of our last two games and Weston win their last game they would stay up and we would go down. I'm taking nothing for granted until we're safe mathematically.

"Tonight is the final big push. Our present form of one defeat in 12 games is promotion form and I want us to finish off the season in the same vein. It will be absolutely devastating if we were to go down. I don't even want to think about that."

Saints lost to the Magpies in the FA Trophy Third Qualifying Round back in November and were defeated 3-0 at Clarence Park in February. The manager is determined to set the record straight at the third time of asking.

"Maidenhead were the better team when we played them recently," conceded Castle. "But this is a different team now and we want to prove to them the enormous strides we've made.

"I want a convincing victory and will go into my team talk tonight wanting no more dramas. We've been through enough high pressure games already this season."

Editor's Choice