CITY skipper Ryan Frater wants his teammates to make Clarence Park a fortress as the Saints target a charge towards the play-offs. Steve Castle s side currently sit in 15th place in the Blue Square South table but are only six points off the play-offs and

CITY skipper Ryan Frater wants his teammates to make Clarence Park a fortress as the Saints target a charge towards the play-offs.

Steve Castle's side currently sit in 15th place in the Blue Square South table but are only six points off the play-offs and Frater believes that if the team can get an unbeaten run going they can break into the top five.

"We need to make this (Clarence Park) a fortress, when teams come we need to make it hard for them to play, beat these teams up and climb up the league," the City captain told the Herts Advertiser.

"We're not far off and if we can get a good run going we can be up in the play-offs that's the aim."

The Saints bounced back from two successive defeats with a 2-0 victory over Basingstoke Town on Tuesday despite not playing at their best. However after successive defeats the City captain says the result was the most important aspect.

"After two defeats on the spin we just wanted to bounce back and a 2-0 win with a clean sheet is a good result for us."

The former Hitchin defender admitted the Woking result in particular was a bitter pill to swallow.

"The Woking result was hard to take because I thought we were the best team for the first half an hour, we shipped a goal and it was 2-0 before half time. From there we changed formation and it back-fired."

Prior to the Woking and Bromley defeats, City had been enjoying a decent run of form and Frater wants the side to get back in that grove, starting when Chelmsford visit Clarence Park on Saturday.

"It's not bad, we've had a couple of wins and a couple of draws and it was a good little run," said Frater. "We just want to kick on from now and get a result against Chelmsford on Saturday."

The visit of Chelmsford could see Frater come up with the man he replaced as City captain Ben Martin.

Martin, who scooped both the Players' and Supporters' Player of the Year awards last season, joined the Clarets in the summer but has been hampered by injuries since switching to Melbourne Park.

However the 6ft 7in defender is back in contention and Frater hopes he gets to take on his friend.

"Benny Martin's been injured but hopefully he'll play and it'll be a good tussle. After losing down at their place, it's important to get one over them and get back to winning ways