Boss signs up for the long term in push for play-offs

Brackley Town manager Kevin Wilkin has extended his contract

Saints make the long trip to Blyth Spartans on Saturday and boss Kevin Wilkin will be looking for his players to bounce back from their quarter-final exit in Saturday’s FA Trophy tie with Leyton Orient.

Saints must put that disappointment firmly behind them as they head north in search of three more Vanarama National League North points.

And the Saints boss has committed his future to the club after extending his contract by another two years.

Wilkin said: “I’ve enjoyed my time here and I want to get us promoted, so I want to do my best to get us up a level.

“I believe we can make the play-offs this season and now being out of the FA Trophy gives us a clear run to the end of the season.

“We’ve not been outplayed by any team in this division and you take confidence from that but we’ve still got some difficult places to go. There are still several teams in it so if we hit a flat spot they could take advantage.”

Monday’ semi-final draw paired Orient with AFC Telford United and Wilkin would have fancied his side’s chances in that one.

He added: “We’ve just got to get backto the league now and hope that we get ourselves into a play-off place and try to get promotion.

“But we need to learn and understand from what we’ve not done in the tie, seeing Monday’s draw brought that home to us because we would have fancied ourselves in the semi-finals. I’ve looked back at the video of Saturday’s tie and I still can’t believe we’ve not won the game.

“Hopefully, we’ll be back in a knockout situation at the end of the season. Performance wise, we’ve shown we can compete at the next level.”