FAMILIARITY is the key to the success surrounding Harpenden Town at the moment, according to manager Simon Andrews.

Town fired out of the blocks with a opening day win against Winslow United but stumbled from there on, dropping games to Codicote, Buckingham Athletic and Kentish Town.

The last two games, however, have seen Town blast Langford and Buckingham out of the water, winning 4-2 and 3-2 respectively.

Andrews, in his first season as manager, believes the recent success is down to the players’ familiarity with one another.

“The players getting used to each other, getting fitter and more confident; they’re starting to play to their ability,” he told the Herts Ad.

“They’re also getting used to myself and the rest of the coaching staff so they understand what we expect.”

He added: “[The Buckingham win] was big for us; we said to the lads before the game that it was the first real test of the season as they beat us only two weeks ago.

“We said: ‘How far have you come in the last two weeks,’ and we went one up in the first five minutes. Then we let them back in but in the second half we switched up the formation and stopped them from playing. We absolutely romped them.”

While pleased with the results, Andrews admitted his was disappointed to be conceding goals early in games.

“We either go one up or two down at the start of game so we’ve told the lads that they need to play for 90 minutes; to concentrate for 90 minutes but that comes down to fitness and inexperience,” he explained.

“We have got good options and we have goals in us. Yes, I’m upset to leak goals but the experienced players we are missing [due to injury] are mainly defenders so we’re going to get better.”

Harpenden are full of confidence ahead of Saturday’s game against Sun Postal, who sit top of the league and have been tipped as league winners, a title Andrews believes is premature.

“Sun Postal will be a tough game but they are not as good as everyone says,” he said.

“The motivation for the lads will be that if we beat them, we go ahead of the team that everyone expects to win the title.”

He added: “If we can stay in touch with the top teams then when we get the lads back we can push on.”