Bury Town’s main target, for the rest of this campaign, remains beating last season’s ninth-placed finish, and Ben Chenery’s men are on course to achieve that goal.

The Blues have been just out of striking distance, in terms of gate-crashing the Bostik North play-offs, for most of what has been another satisfactory season at Step Four. They entertain Brentwood Town tomorrow afternoon

They ended a winless run of five matches, featuring two draws (away at Mildenhall and Aveley) and then three straight defeats (to Coggeshall Town, Bowers & Pitsea and Dereham Town), by claiming a 2-0 win at Barking last weekend.

Second-half goals by Emmanuel Machaya and Joe White bagged the points at Barking, which cemented the Blues’ position in seventh, two points behind sixth-placed AFC Sudbury and level with eighth-placed Felixstowe & Walton, with five fixtures to play.

“We had to change our style of play at Barking, because of the pitch, and it worked,” explained manager Chenery.

“We put the ball into good areas, and as a manager its always satisfying to see a plan succeed. We were a threat on the counter-attack and I thought we adapted well, which is what you have to do when you face a different sort of problems.

“Emmanuel (Machaya) got his goal and also scored a couple for the Under-23s in midweek (4-1 win over Witham Town), so he is in a rich vein of form.

“This weekend should be a very different game. We play a certain way at home, being very explosive and getting on the front foot as quickly as possible.

“I’m looking forward to the match, because Brentwood have picked up some good results of late (won 3-2 at play-off candidates Coggeshall Town).

“The play-off positions are all decided, and with the exception of a few teams fighting for survival at the other end of the table, everyone else is safe in mid-table.

“We have five games left, and our target remains finishing higher than we did last season, to continue our progress. That’s our main focus,” added Chenery.

Ryan Jolland is expected to miss out again, due to a dislocated shoulder, but Ollie Hughes and Ryan Horne both came through fitness tests last weekend.

Front-runner Cemal Ramadan is out for the season with a hernia.