Nearly crunch time for Matt Elliott

Stafford Rangers manager Matt Elliott admits "it's approaching crunch time" as his side gear up for a relegation must-win showdown with Redditch.

The bottom club visit Marston Road tomorrow with both teams fighting for their lives in the relegation places of the Blue Square North and Rangers will plummet to the foot of the table, for the first time this season, if they lose the game.

But Rangers could make up vital ground on Gainsborough, who they travel to play next Saturday, as the nearest rivals to them with a similar amount of games played. Gloucester are immediately above the drop zone, but have four games in hand.

Elliott will definitely be without captain Craig McAughtrie, who is suspended, but Levi Reid returns after a one-match ban while new signing Callum Wright will join the squad, although is unlikely to start.

Left-back Mark Dudley is also struggling with a foot injury, but will given every chance to prove his fitness.

And Elliott has warned his troops that the heat is on in tomorrow's basement battle.

He said: "If you look at the table, at first glance we look a million miles away, the reality of the matter is that we are not but it's approaching crunch time, definitely.

"If we don't pull our finger out, we will find ourselves distanced from the rest. We haven't won enough games so far and it's about time that we did.

"There will be a certain amount of pressure, but we have brought that on our ourselves and I mentioned to the lads that I hope they noticed we had quite an important game at the weekend.

"I am just focusing on that, let's give it as good as shot as we can, hopefully we can do ourselves a bit of good and then we can go from there."