Harleston Magpies Ladies manager John Adams on his side's battle to avoid relegation from Vitality Women's League Division 1 South

John Adams is confident his Harleston Magpies Ladies’ I side can avoid the drop from Vitality Women’s League Division 1 South next week.

It is set to be a nervy end to the 2022/23 campaign for Harleston’s highest-ranked team, with Adams’ side sitting in eighth place in the table, just one place and one point above the relegation zone.

Magpies make the trip to third-placed Sevenoaks I tomorrow (2pm), while elsewhere the division’s bottom two sides, Cambridge City I and Witney, I face off earlier that day.

A win for basement side Witney and Adams’ Magpies is the only outcome which would secure Harleston’s Division 1 South status this weekend, otherwise their fate will come down to the final round of fixtures next week.

“Things are very tight now as we’re only one point ahead of Cambridge City, who won on Saturday,” manager Adams said.

“But we’re still very confident and it’s still in our own hands.

“If we can win our last two games then there’s absolutely nothing that anybody can do about it.

“It’s still in our control. We’re playing very well and I think we’re playing some really good hockey.

“The positives are that we’re also scoring some goals. We’ve knocked in a few goals in the last few weeks.

“I think we’ve got a really good chance of beating Sevenoaks on Saturday and coming away with a result.

“Things can get a bit feisty in the games with Sevenoaks and we don’t tend to have the greatest relationship with them.

“In the past we’ve had some pretty good results against them so I think that’s a positive thing to hang onto going into this weekend.”

On Saturday, Harleston twice came from a goal behind to draw 2-2 at home against Surbiton II, with Beth Gardens and Niamh Campbell on target.

While the result stretched Magpies’ winless run to five games (three draws and two defeats), Adams’ side have found their scoring boots in recent weeks, netting 10 of their 18 league goals in the last five games alone.

“Obviously we’d have preferred a win but on the day against Surbiton it was a good point,” Adams reflected.

“It was a fair result. We were a goal down each time so to keep coming back shows the positive mentality the girls have at the moment.

“I really do think we are playing some good hockey at the moment.

“On Saturday we probably played some of the best hockey we’ve played all season.

“Even the week before against Barnes (5-2 defeat) the scoreline didn’t reflect how well we played.”

Captain Ella Picton (ankle) has already been ruled out for the rest of the season, but Magpies have no other injury concerns heading into their penultimate game of the campaign at Sevenoaks tomorrow.