BOSS Steve Claridge is urging his Salisbury charges to keep their “noses in front” ahead of the season run-in.

The Whites moved up to third place in Southern League Division One South and West after hammering relegated Wantage Town 7-0 on Saturday.

Tommy Wright smashed four goals and strikes from Claudio Herbert, Eddie Perrett and Taurean Roberts boosted Whites’ goal difference and saw them go one point ahead of Tiverton Town, who drew 2-2 with Swindon Supermarine.

It bodes well ahead of their final three fixtures, including the Easter weekend.

A trip to Mangotsfield United is up first on Saturday before hosting Wimborne Town in a local derby on Easter Monday.

They then conclude the league campaign away at Bideford on Saturday, April 22.

Talking ahead of the crunch games, Claridge told JournalSport: “We’ve certainly got a harder run-in than anyone now.

“We’ve got to go to Bideford and Mangotsfield, which is tough.

“We have Wimborne here as well.

“Having said that, we’ve got our noses in front.”

“We know what we’ve got to do. It’s in our hands so we’ve got no excuses if we don’t fulfil that, then it’s down to us.”

If Whites can retain third spot, they will guarantee themselves a home advantage in the semi-final of the play-offs, which takes place on Wednesday, April 26.

But if they are able to jump above Taunton and finish second, then it would also give them a home game in the final, providing they reach it.

“We’d probably take third.We’d have taken third three months ago but we’ll take third then you get your home game,” added Claridge.

“It gives us a chance but if we can win those games we’ll finish third.

“We’ve never been in this position and never had this opportunity so will be interesting to see how people react to that.

“It’s taken an awful long time to get here.

“If everything would have been equal, we would have finished second this year - I genuinely believe that.

“We had a really poor start and we’ve made up something like 16/17 points on teams which gives you some understanding with the amount of injuries we’ve had, and we’ve still lost games.”

Claridge is boosted by the return of Sam Roberts and Justin Bennett, with others nearing full fitness.