Woodbridge Town boss would not swap any of his players with division’s top three

The Woodpeckers are currently fourth in Thurlow Nunn Division One and travel to Leiston Reserves this evening, hoping to close the gap on third-placed Coggeshall to just three points.

Woodbridge are 11 points behind leaders Stowmarket Town – albeit with a game in hand – and while Scales concedes winning the title might be a step too far, he declared he was happy with his lot, ahead of their final 11 games of the season.

“So far this season we have won 18 of our 29 league games, scored 99 goals and kept clean sheets in our previous three games,” said Scales, who has seen top-scorer Mark Ray net 43 times in 30 appearances.

“We have such a good squad, and while there may be areas we could tweak, I would not swap my lads for any players in the top-three teams.”

He added: “I don’t think we can win the league and it’s about taking one game at a time and seeing where we finish.

“But if you had given me the chance to finish fourth in the league at the start of the season, I would have bitten your hand off, given the strength of the competition, with teams like Coggeshall, Holland and Diss in there.

“There have been some clubs that have put some money in too, and we have applied ourselves well and we are working hard and progressing.”

Stowmarket look well placed to win the league this season, having dominated for the majority of the campaign, and Scales hopes his Notcutts Park-based side will be challenging for the top spot next term.

Asked if promotion was the club’s aim next season, Scales added: “Without a shadow of a doubt.

“We have got a good club and a good group of players who have stuck together this season and know what we will be trying to achieve next year.

“I think they can only go from strength to strength, the more they play with each other.

“We just need to manage games better and we are on a learning curve.

“We have dropped some points this season that could come back to bite us on the bum.”