With both leaders, Coggeshall and third-placed Stowmarket Town, playing their games in hand this week, the top three go into the weekend games knowing what they need to finish in the top two and gain promotion to the Bostik League (North), writes Phil Griffths.

None of the three, including second-placed Felixstowe & Walton, can afford any slip ups in the final five games. But something will have to give when the leaders travel to the Goldstar ground on the May 1, and four days later host Stowmarket in the final game of the season.

It could be boiling up to some climax.

Between now and then Felixstowe & Walton can only concentrate on what they do, starting with the home game against Saffron Walden this weekend.

The Essex side halted the Seasiders 12 game winning start to the season when they scored four without reply at the end of September, and Seasiders management team, Kevin O’Donnell and Ian Watson will be reminding their squad in no uncertain terms they cannot afford any repeat of that level of performance over the coming weeks and in particular, this weekend.

Four straight wins without conceding a goal have put the side back into a commanding position and it is now in their own hands to finish in the top two, needing eight points from their remaining games to guarantee second spot.

But they are relying on Coggeshall, with a far superior goal difference, to drop at least two points if they are to have any chance of winning the title when the sides meet in just over a fortnight.

Walden start the day in eighth place but go into this game having lost to both Coggeshall and Stowmarket in the last 12 days, and with the added problem of having two players sent off in that home defeat by Stowmarket ruling them out of this weekend’s round of fixtures.

Their recent form has been unpredictable with just two wins from their last eight games and defeats at two of the sides battling against relegation.

The two sides are the best supported in the division, and with the weather forecast improving the Goldstar should provide a great atmosphere for the game.