St Albans City joint manager James Gray has set his players a minimum target of nine points from their last three games.

The Saints slipped to fourth place in the league after Saturday’s 1-0 loss to Poole Town, and while their fate is still in their own hands, the margins between the five teams vying for the final three play-offs spots in incredibly narrow.

Hemel Hempstead and Chesham United are in a league of their own fighting for the top two spots. After that nine points separates Cambridge City (79pts), St Albans (78), Stourbridge (77), Hungerford Town (74) and Poole (70) – Hungerford and Poole have two games in hand over the other sides.

Speaking to Saintsnet after Saturday’s loss, Gray said: “It has to be nine points otherwise we need other teams to do us a favour.

“It’s going to be an interesting run in. We’re in [the top five] and the other teams chasing but it’s so tight - I wouldn’t rule Poole out of it.

We’ve got to pick the boys up as it’s a six-pointer this weekend [against Burnham] and it’s a harder task after [today’s] performance.”

Gray added that they was “everything to play for” against Poole, making his side’s disappointing performance that much harder to digest.

“All Graham [Golds, joint manager] and I think about is the play-offs; we dream about it – Conference South, bigger clubs, better surfaces, better pitches,” he said.

“We had everything to play for but we were no where near it today. We need to look deep and look at what we’re trying to achieve.

“There is nine points to play for, that will get us in.”