It’s going to be a massive Saturday afternoon at the top of the BOSTIK South East as the top eight sides in the division are playing each other, and for Sam Denly’s Hythe Town, there’s the carrot of beating one of their nearest rivals.

“Weekends like this are always exciting to be honest,” Denly told KSN this week.

“We looked at the fixtures after we played Guernsey on Saturday and realised that the top eight in the table are playing each other – it’ll be interesting to see how everyone goes and where we’re sitting come five o’clock Saturday afternoon.”

“I’m sure that there will be changes and we’re just hoping that we can get another positive result and then you can start to see a little bit of light – it’s all very tight and I’m sure all of us are looking to get some distance.”

“Cray have got off to a stormer but then it’s so tight. But even then, if they drop a few points here and there and we keep winning, it’ll be completely tight again – nothing’s won in December, we all know that, but you’ve just gone to get some consistency and some wins.”

“We went down to Sevenoaks a couple of weeks ago and with a couple of wins they’ll be right back in the top five or six. It’s so close to call this year and you certainly can’t call the five now that’s for sure.”

“It’s been well documented that we haven’t lost a League game at Reachfields in 2018 which is an amazing stat and one that we want to keep hold of every game we play – Horsham are a very good side and so we’ll have to be at our very best, but not losing a home game in a calendar year really is something a bit special.”

Turning his attention to Saturday, Denly continued, “Horsham have been an up and down side traditionally, but this year they seem to have found something and I think they’ll go above us with a game in hand if they beat us – the League doesn’t lie this stage of the season – they’re top five for a reason; they are probably a different team at home, capable of beating anybody, but on their day they’ll beat anyone.”

“So come Saturday we will have to be on our top game – hard at it and without carrying on simple as that and if we play as well as we can to get something out of the game.”

“No new knocks for Guernsey – they’ve been in this week so far and we’re actually not that far being at full strength now ready for Christmas. We’ve got loads of big games coming up.”

“We needed the win on Guernsey to set us up for Saturday and the derbies that follow in a massive month for me – we want to get as many points as we can…. and then look at the League table in January to see where we are hopefully sitting around the top five – we want to be top three if we can – and we want to be playing at a good level every week to make sure that we stay there…”