Slinfold '˜fully focused' on a promotion place with title '˜Goring's to lose'

The Lyons Road outfit sit second in the table; 70 behind the table-toppers, but with a 39-point lead on third-placed local rivals Steyning.

Their skipper Dave Kennett ruled themselves out of the title race last weekend and after another wet Saturday, Filby has all-but done the same.

Slinfold were left frustrated at Horsham 2nd, where they had the hosts at 54-7 when the rain set in and play was abandoned.

That was 30 points that got away, but at least no ground was lost with all other games in the division either cancelled or abandoned.

Filby said: “Realistically now the title is out of our reach and we are fully focused on second place and promotion. Goring have all-but won the league and we will be concentrating on maintaining the gap between us and third-placed Steyning.

“We have Steyning in the last game of the season so we will hope to have promotion tied up by then. Our recent results haven’t been great but we knew this league was never going to be easy.”

That form has seen Slinfold win just one of their last six matches, although two of those have been abandonments.

That one win in four completed matches is in stark comparisons to their seven-game winning streak at the start of the campaign, which held propelled them into the driving seat.

Despite that, Filby said: “Confidence and morale remains high in the squad. We have one of the best groups of players I have ever been involved with in terms of team spirit. Guy Thorne built a brilliant championship winning team last year and it has been a pleasure to captain the side and try and maintain the momentum.

“Akeem (Jordan) has had another very strong year but we have had contributions from throughout the side. Jon Hughes has been batting well at the top and Mushal Murad has been a great addition in the middle order.

“In the bowling department Imran Shah has put in a couple of match-winning performances and Richard Harris and Dan Graycon have had their moments too. I’ve also been really pleased with the way TJ (Thivagar Jeyachandran) has stepped up to first team cricket.”

Slinfold are hoping to get back into action with victory in their top-of-the-table clash on Saturday.

Filby added: “Our goal from now on is to win all of our remaining fixtures, starting with Goring this weekend.

“We know that we can only afford one more slip up so the pressure is really on to pick up our performances.

“After the match against Goring we revert back to limited overs win/lose cricket. I feel this format suits our style of play and we won all five of our games in this format at the start of the season. Hopefully we can have a very strong finish to the season.”

n Steyning’s match at Stirlands was abandoned after 28 overs with the visitors at 74-2. They host Horsham 2nd on Saturday.