Diss Town manager Garth Good says home form ‘vital’ to ensure Tangerines achieve play-off place ahead of FC Parson Drove’s visit

Diss Town manager Garth Good has described his side’s home form between now and the end of the season as ‘vital’ to looking to achieve their goal of holding onto a play-off position.

The Tangerines return to Brewers Green Lane from a free weekend, following the 1-0 loss to visiting third-placed Harwich & Parkeston, sitting two points clear of sixth-placed Holbeach United with two games in hand.

But with FC Peterborough (7th) four points off their tally having played the same amount of games, Good knows they do not have much wriggle room ahead of hosting mid-table FC Parson Drove tomorrow (3pm).

Having started with Harwich & Parkeston the weekend before last, they are in what he sees as a key run of four home games from five that needs to see a healthy return of points.

The Diss boss, who has so far seen his side record six wins, three draws and three losses on home turf - by far the worst in the top six - said: “We have got a string of home games and I think you've got to look to try and maximise those opportunities of playing at home trying to get the positive result. I think that's going to be vital if we at the end of the season want to be as close as possible to, if not in those play-off positions.”

Good admits his side are ahead of where the coaching staff thought they would be, but now wants to ensure they put together a strong run of form to ensure they do not let the situation they have got themselves in slip away.

“I think when you're that close you want to stay in the mix there because I think I look at the league table every team from second down to seventh or eighth, if you include FC Peterborough and Gorleston Reserves, are all capable of finishing in the play-offs.

“The team that achieves that outcome will be the team that can string together a series of positive results which has got to be our objective.”

The Tangerines will be looking to cope for a second consecutive game without their normal starting centre-back pairing of Kehan Whitby and Myron Abodunde who continue to serve two and three-game suspensions respectively from their ‘very harsh’ red cards from the 2-2 draw at Gorleston Reserves on December 28.

James Blyth and James Sillett moved into their slots against Harwich & Parkeston and look set to do so again this weekend as Good looks for his squad to set up to the challenge again.

“I’ll be laying it at the boys’ door: who will be stepping up to address that situation and who's going to step up and maybe make a case to keep the others out of their place?’ So that's the challenge you lay on players and say well actually that's an opportunity, and you see how they respond.”

One of the other challenges for Good and his coaching staff has been trying to keep the players at their peak during a period of bad weather and unfortunate fixture breaks that has seen them play just three times since the start of December, in contrast to others they are coming up against.

“I think the frustrating thing is we’ve not be back-to-back games now for weeks and that is always tough,” he admitted.

“Hopefully we are going to play Saturday, weather permitting, and again, you are hoping that rustiness is not there when you come across teams that have been lucky enough to have more regular games so it was frustrating not to have a game at the weekend for that reason.

“All we can do is be as positive as we can be. We have worked as hard as we can away from the pitch to try and ensure we are in the best shape we can be, but the hard thing is nothing replicates that game environment.”

Meanwhile, new floodlights have recently been installed but Good admits it has come at a cost with the nature of the work having left its mark on the pitch.

Good said: “I think unfortunately weather affected our pitch but also we've just had new floodlights put in at the ground that has also had an impact, but we just have to make the best of it.

“The floodlights were 40 odd years old and the committee are working really hard to modernise the club.”

FC Parson Drove, from Wisbech St Mary in Cambridgeshire, are without a win in their last five matches (three defeats) and lost 3-0 to Diss at the start of that period, on December 14,. The Tangerines scored all their goals in the first half in the fixture, two from captain Kyle Baker and one from Oliver Williams.