Ben Chenery knows his Bury Town side may have given themselves too much to do in the chase for a Ryman North play-off place, but he still expects his patched-up side to battle to the end.

The Ram Meadow club now sit 11th in the table on a run of five games without a win, with the gap standing at 12 points between them and Cheshunt, the holders of the final play-off place.

While Bury do hold a game in hand, heading into today’s clash with third-placed Harlow, Chenery admitted the injury problems which have robbed him of up to 10 first-team players in recent weeks must not be used as an excuse.

He also insisted he and his players will not give up on a spot in the post-season.

“You have to make sure you give your all in every game and collect as many points as possible, we need to keep doing that because anything can happen,” he said. “We’ve made it very difficult for ourselves and it looks like maybe too big an ask to be honest, because we’ve just been conceding far too many goals.

“It’s been individual errors and it’s been naivety and that can come from having to play younger players regularly. We’re good going forward but we shouldn’t have to score three or four goals to win games, which is what it’s been like recently.

“I’ve got a right back playing left back in Tevan Allen, our right-back (Ollie Canfer) is really a wide midfielder or a forward and Darcy De’ath came off at Maldon after being sick on the pitch again.

“Phil Weavers has a slight strain in his groin and that’s our back four which is obviously very patched up.

“We can’t use it as an excuse though and we have to keep battling on because that is just what you have to do.”

Ipswich Town youngster Nick Ingram is the latest to be added to the injury list, due to a hip problem, but Chenery is hoping his problems will ease in the coming weeks.

“It’s pretty similar really, we had Noel Aitkens involved on the bench at Maldon but then we look like we could lose Nick Ingram who has a problem with his hip,” Chenery said.

“It seems as if when we get one back we then lose one, but I’m hoping to get Bradley Barber back in training soon but the injury list is still quite extensive.

“There’s nothing we can do about it immediately, it’s something I have to live with, and we have to move forward positively and get some points on the board.”

Bury lost 2-0 when they met Harlow in January, with Chenery hopeful his team of youngsters can get their revenge when they welcome the third-placed side to Ram Meadow today.

“Harlow were very good against us at their place, we weren’t at the races and we didn’t get a foothold in the game as they beat us 2-0,” he said.

“I’m hoping that will be different this time around, as it would be great for the lads to get a result against a team going so well in the league.”

Following today’s game, Bury take on Lowestoft in the semi-final of the Suffolk Premier Cup on Wednesday, before going to Tilbury next weekend in Ryman North action.