Bury Town face up to the first of three very testing fixtures, against top-five sides, when they travel to Aveley this afternoon.

The Blues are six points adrift of the Bostik North play-off zone, going into their last 10 fixtures of the season, so they really need to take points off the trio of second-placed Aveley, away at fifth-placed Coggeshall Town and at home to leaders Bowers & Pitsea over the next month.

Ben Chenery’s men were held to a goalless draw away at local rivals Mildenhall Town last weekend, in their last outing.

Bury manager Chenery said: “Things didn’t fall for us in the right areas at Mildenhall, inside the box. We didn’t really hurt them, which was disappointing.

“But we remained unbeaten (now just one defeat in the last seven matches), and we defended well. We now move on to Aveley.

“It’s a big few weeks for us, and I would rather be playing these top clubs, than not playing them, because that will have a huge bearing on where we finish.

“It’s nice to be pitting ourselves against the football clubs above us, good clubs who are up there for a reason, with good resources. We welcome that. We are a good footballing team, and it will be a big test for us,” added Chenery.

The Blues were missing front-runner Cemal Ramadan, a very important player for them, due to injury at Mildenhall, and he is unlikely to return this weekend.

But there is then a two-week break before the following fixture, away at Coggeshall on March 9.

“Cemal had a problem with his hip, which has gone into his groin,” explained Chenery.

“It is something we have to assess, and it might be a little while until he is back with us, which stretches the squad a little bit. That’s football, we have to deal with that.

“This Saturday will probably be too soon for him,” added Chenery.

- Mildenhall Town, second from bottom and six points adrift of safety, are away at fifth-placed Coggeshall this afternoon.

Hall boss Ricky Cornish said: “We have given ourselves a fighting chance of getting out of it – our goal is to get out of the bottom two.

“We have two more difficult games left, against Coggeshall and then Bowers & Pitsea (following weekend). After that we will have all the confidence in the world, going into our last nine games.”