Balague: Biggleswade players must go extra mile to stop the rot

Our aim is to finish in the top four for the first time in our history and if we are to do that we must stop the rot...and stop it now.

Next up are London Colney, who barring a massive and dramatic loss of form look destined to be crowned champions and who we should have beaten when we drew on their home patch at the end of February.

They would love to inch one step further to the title against us and there is nothing I would like more than to guarantee their victory champagne remains on ice just a little bit longer.

The huge publicity and nationwide attention we have attracted this season has been very much a double edged sword for us and the whoops of joy and celebration following Hoddesdon’s fully deserved 3-0 victory against us on Tuesday confirmed just how much our opponents seem to enjoy getting the better of us.

But that’s for us to deal with and the only way we are going to get back on track is with the same effort, hard work and commitment that took us all the way up to fourth place from early on in the year.

We are now effectively in a dogfight with four, possibly five, other clubs for fourth place spot and that is the very least that our loyal supporters, sponsors, coaches, volunteers, and most of all, the players themselves deserve. We also have a North Beds Charity Cup semi final match against Baldock Town coming up.

As far as I am concerned the season starts here; this is where we show everyone what we are made of. This is where we focus even more. When we make extra sacrifices. A fourth place finish would feel to me like a title win and would take us higher than we have ever been as well as provide a great springboard for next season’s campaign. Who is in with me for this goal?

We are not about to change the way we play but recently we have abandoned some of high pressure, building from the back and attacks as a team that we are known for in exchange for the hopeful, and more often than not, fruitless long ball approach.

To achieve our targets we need one last push over the last month of the campaign and total commitment in training. A dropping off of numbers attending Monday night training sessions has been disappointing not least because the extra training night we put in that other clubs don’t is I firmly believe one of the major things that helps make a difference when it comes to our form on the pitch.

The fact that our slump in form followed a drop in numbers attending Monday night training sessions is no coincidence. If we don’t train on the Monday we are just like any other side and the eventual outcome of any match can be akin to the toss of a coin which is definitely not how we want to do things.

There is about one month, eight league games and at least one - but hopefully - two cup games to go, starting with the visit to Second Meadow of London Colney on Saturday and a trip to Edgware Town on Tuesday night. Come on lads, let’s go the extra mile, let’s do it!

See you there.