Play-off candidates Bury Town face bottom club Romford tomorrow afternoon (at Witham Town’s Spa Road ground), but this is “no classic top-five versus bottom clash,” in the eyes of Blues boss Ben Chenery.

Romford, backed by some big spending from new owner Glen Tamplin, look good bets to escape the clutches of relegation from the Isthmian League North, perhaps at the expense of Suffolk side Felixstowe & Walton United.

In fact, Romford's eye-catching 3-1 win away at league leaders Maldon & Tiptree on Tuesday night, which inflicted only a second league defeat of the season on the Jammers, suggest that they will pull clear over the remaining couple of months of the season.

They have moved up to level on points with second-from-bottom Felixstowe, and still have four games in hand over the Seasiders. They are also just two points behind third-from-bottom Basildon United

At the other end of the table, injury-ravaged Bury slipped to a 3-0 home defeat at the hands of play-off rivals Great Wakering Rovers last weekend.

"This is going to be one of our hardest games of the season," explained Bury boss Chenery, with reference to tomorrow's away game at Witham's ground.

"Romford have good players in their squad, and they went to Maldon and beat them during the week, so it's a tough fixture for us. They are strong in all areas of the pitch. So it's not going to be a classic top-five versus bottom clash. The league standings aren't a true reflection for them.

"We need to bounce back from last weekend's defeat, when we were very flat. I thought we looked very tired, mentally and physically. We never did enough to get anything out of the game.

"That's the problem of running with such a small squad at the minute, due to all the injuries, though I'm hoping one or two might be back for the weekend," added Chenery.

Centre-half Joe White will return, after missing the defeat at Great Wakeirng, while the duo of centre-half Alex Henderson, on loan from Ipswich Town, and midfielder Ryan Jolland, both face late fitness tests.

"We are very much still in the top five, and I'm sure there will be many more twists and turns this season. We have to keep pushing," added Chenery.