THE aim for any club at the start of the season is to ensure they retain their status at whatever level they play.

How often do you hear Premier League managers talk about getting to 40 points?

They know that, for the majority, staying in the top-flight is everything and anything achieved on top of that is a bonus.

The stakes are so high that relegation, or even the mere prospect of it, carries huge ramifications.

It is no different for a club like Worcester City.

They face an annual battle to keep themselves in Conference North. Relegation would likely bring smaller crowds, therefore less money.

Safeguarding that position has taken on even more significance now they are exiled at Kidderminster Harriers.

Last season, the Blue and Whites put a worrying start behind them to eventually finish 15th.

This season, Carl Heeley’s side have taken things a step further and, with 10 games to go, are perched in 10th place.

They are currently well placed to finish in the top 10, or at worst the top half, and could yet even make a late push for the play-offs.

Doom-mongers will point out they are still not mathematically safe from relegation but only the pessimist would see it that way.

In reality, City are set for a healthy league position. When you factor in their FA Cup heroics, it has been a fine campaign to date.

Few would have predicted it but you can bet everyone connected with the club would have gladly accepted those terms if offered to them back in August.

For once, Worcester are heading into the season’s home straight looking above them in the table rather than over their shoulders.

Heeley admits his team have already exceeded expectations and says they aren’t about to settle for what they’ve got.

“We’re not going to take our foot off the gas and say we’ve achieved our job of avoiding relegation. We want to finish the season strongly,” he said.

“We’ve had a good, solid campaign, probably a lot better than anybody could have ever dreamed of, but now we’re in the last two months we want to finish strongly.”

Worcester are in the midst of an injury crisis but are three games unbeaten following last Saturday’s 2-0 victory over Gainsborough Trinity at Aggborough when Tristian Dunkley scored his sixth goal of the season.

Heeley added: “One thing about this group of players is they work hard for each other.

“They’re an honest bunch of lads and they might have off-days at times, like all players do, but they all want to do well for each other and whoever is or isn’t playing all want the best for the team and that’s a good quality to have.

“We won the game and that’s all that really matters but we’ve still got aspirations of our own and that’s to finish as high up the table as we can so we’re scrapping for everything as well.”