AFC Sudbury boss Mark Morsley knows his side face a tough January.

East Anglian Daily Times: Bury manager Ben CheneryBury manager Ben Chenery

The King’s Marsh Stadium team enjoyed an exciting 3-2 win over close rivals Bury Town in the west Suffolk derby on New Year’s Day.

It was their fourth straight league win and takes Sudbury up to sixth place in Bostik North.

However, with fifth-placed Aveley in town on Saturday, and trips to the current top two, Bowers & Pitsea and Heybridge Swifts ahead this month, Morsley is not counting any chickens just yet.

“We have had a decent run of late and that is down to a lot of hard work by the players and staff but, we still have a long way to go in the development of the club,” Morsley said.

“We are taking one game at a time with all our focus on Saturday which will continue to be our approach – no one at Sudbury is talking about anything past that.

“This Saturday we entertain Aveley who are an excellent side, well managed and real contenders for the title; it will be a real test for us.

“Saying that I am again relishing to see how we deal with this test.”

Certainly by the end of the month, Sudbury’s title and/or play-off credentials will probably be a bit more clearly defined.

But currently, they are enjoying a hot run of good form – although Morsley admits they were slightly fortunate to collect all three points at Ram Meadow on Tuesday.

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“On New Years Day we had the first of five really tough January fixtures and I was pleased that one finished with three points,” he said.

“For the supporters I am guessing they enjoyed an exciting match that we were slightly fortunate to win with a draw possibly the right outcome.

“However on the day we took our chances and Bury didn’t (until the last mad 10 minutes when they scored twice).”

Bury Town, meanwhile travel to Grays this weekend, the Essex side sitting just behind Bury in eighth place.

Of the Sudbury clash, Chenery told the Bury Town website: “I felt that we deserved far more than we got, but we only have ourselves to blame as we did not take the chances in front of goal that we created.

“We’ve hit the bar twice, and the post, plus a few other efforts that you would expect us to score, but it just wasn’t our day.”

“I can’t fault the players effort and they were as disappointed as anyone in the changing room after the game. They knew they deserved more, but it was a harsh lesson for us.

“Sudbury hit us on the break a couple of times to score and that deflated us but we kept going, and on another day we would have got a result, we were excellent in the first half and I couldn’t believe we were behind at half-time.

“If we play with that desire for the rest of the season we will be there or there abouts.”