Matt Elliott plays down safety gap

Stafford Rangers manager Matt Elliott has played down the widening gap between his side and safety by insisting it will be months before the league fully develops.

Rangers go into Saturday's game at Blyth Spartans six points from safety in the Blue Square North, after Hyde pulled off a shock 2-1 win at league leaders Nuneaton on Tuesday night.

But that result leaves Elliott's men with a game in hand on the teams directly above and below them, with Nuneaton the next visitors to Marston Road a week on Saturday.

That kicks off a February where Rangers will face bottom club Redditch at home, along with strugglers Gainsborough and Eastwood, before March kicks off with a double header against the other two of the current bottom three.

And the manager believes it's around that mark where the moments of truth could come in Rangers' relegation fight, with three months still left for the team to save their Blue Square North skins.

Elliott has also urged his side to pile the pressure on teams heading closer and closer to the trap door with their own results.

He said: "For ourselves, Hyde and Redditch, three points are always precious but probably doubly so at the moment.

"I don't want us just to focus on Hyde and Redditch, there are teams above them that I believe are catchable over a period of time, not in the next week or two but in the next month or two, definitely.

"Everything will develop over that period and who is to say those above us will win their games in hand? It's unlikely but not impossible.

"I don't envisage us shooting up the league in the next two weeks but we could certainly like to make progress.

"We need to approach what is coming up in a positive manner and have targets set for us."