Didcot Town manager Andy Ballard has not yet set his sights on the Evo-Stik Southern League Division 1 South & West play-off places, despite his side’s recent upturn in form, writes Matthew Bruce.

The Railwaymen remain adrift of the division’s top sides, but an impressive winning run since the turn of the year has seen them start to close the gap.

However, Ballard’s focus remains on the next match.

He said: “We’re not getting ahead of ourselves.

“We’re on a good run and we’re happy with that, but at the moment our focus is just on taking each game as it comes.

“We’ll set some future targets to focus on after we’ve got through the next few games.”

The veteran midfielder’s managerial career began with a disappointing four-match winless run, which left Didcot feeling the pressure.

But their subsequent good form has convinced Ballard that they are on the road to success.

“When I first took over we just couldn’t pick up that first win,” he said.

“We were playing well, but the results just weren’t going in our favour.

“Now that monkey’s off our back they’ve been playing with freedom and expressing themselves and the results have kept coming.”

Ballard continued: “We’re on a decent run of form now, but most importantly we’re picking up points against the sides around us and above us.

“We’ve got a great bunch of lads and they really work hard for each other.

“It’s pleasing to see that when I’m asking them to do things they’re doing it and we’re reaping the rewards of that.”