ALTHOUGH we had no game last Saturday it's actually turned out to be a pretty good weekend for City.

Results fell our way and we've got every chance of achieving our best finish in the Dr Martens Premier Division since being relegated in 1985.

The draws between Dover and Ilkeston and Chippenham and Stafford suited us perfectly and things got even better on Monday night when Halesowen beat another of our rivals Dover.

It was a great result for Halesowen and I hope they can steer clear of relegation - the more local sides we have the better - plus we already do enough travelling in this division without losing another of our nearer fixtures.

Dover remain one of our main rivals but fixture congestion is catching up with them whereas we've not been troubled with many midweek matches since Christmas which has been a huge benefit.

Teams like Dover and Tiverton, who face two games a week, also pick up all the negative fringe aspects such as injuries and suspensions.

By contrast we've been able to put our feet up so to speak with an enforced week's break but our attentions are now firmly focused on Tiverton's visit to St George's Lane on Saturday.

Under Martyn Rogers Tiverton have made a rapid rise to be rightly bracketed as a well-respected Dr Martens Division club. They are a good team and earning a point at Ladysmead in the second game of the season gave us a massive injection of confidence and self-belief.

After that result we really began to believe in ourselves and that match set us up for our brilliant start to the season.

Although Tiverton have slipped behind the top places, to some degree that has mainly been due to the fact they have not been able to get the games in.

They have some familiar faces in their line up including Paul Chenoweth, who I know was a well-respected figure at St George's Lane during his time with Worcester.

Tiverton are sprinkled with good players which is why they are a top six side but like us have a few injuries at the moment.

We have had injuries all season and there is no sign of them subsiding.

It's difficult but frustrating more than anything and we had just seven training on Monday night with a couple such as Darren Middleton and Adam Webster sat out as precaution.

But putting the injuries aside our aspirations remain high. We had a 10 minute chat on Monday night about the importance of finishing the season as well as possible.

We have to give Tamworth some credit - they've put together a fantastic run which has put them in the position they are - but City's run has not been disastrous either.

Tamworth, however, have put together eight straight wins, including wins against Conference sides and not conceded a goal - and you've got to take your hat off to that.

But our season up to date deserves one of the top two places and with that in mind we've been making the players aware of what is required of them.

It's no good dropping off the pace like we have the last couple of seasons so it's maximum effort and commitment from now until May.

JOHN BARTON was talking to reporter NAT SYLVESTER.