RATIONAL Mikey Harris is still casting an eye on stealing fifth spot but is not underestimating the “difficulty” of the task as a sterling effort is needed if Salisbury City are to catch their promotion-rivals with six games to go.

With no win in seven games and Essex high-fliers Braintree Town up next, City are in for a stern end to the Skrill Premier.

“If we had a fully fit squad going into the last seven games, and we had converted a couple of the recent draws into wins, then you’d think we are still in with a shot,” Harris said.

“Don’t get me wrong, we’re not going to give up. We’ll aim to win our next football match on Saturday and will see what happens from there. And that’s the attitude we’ve had all season.

“Every game’s a different project and hopefully we can keep pushing our away up the table. It’s going to be extremely difficult for us to get into the play-offs now.”

Alan Devonshire’s side won’t be taking things lightly on the Whites as a 4-0 win at Southport on Tuesday, a place Salisbury were outthought, has put them within a point of racing into the play-off zone.

Harris added: “They’re a good side and flying with plenty of games in hand.

“Before they had a hectic spell of matches, they were my tip to get in the play-offs and Alan is a very shrewd man and knows what it takes to succeed at this level.

“We’ll go there full of confidence and hopefully have a couple more players fit.

“There have been plenty of situations this season when we haven’t got what we deserved at times. We could have conceivably beaten Luton and Wrexham as well.

We just seem to be lacking a bit of confidence in the final third but hopefully we can get that back.”

After two away wins on the trot, City will head into their final two games at the Ray Mac – Lincoln City and Welling United. Harris is hoping attendances will be similar to the Challenge 2000 crowd last month.

“I really hope the people who came on Saturday will want to come back and word of mouth will spread.

“The atmosphere was great and hopefully we can build on that.”