ALVECHURCH boss Ian Long says his players deserve all the credit as they head into the Southern League Central play-offs.

Back-to-back bank holiday draws saw Church guarantee their spot in the top five.

The shared the spoils with a thrilling 3-3 draw at Stourbridge last Friday before a 1-1 stalemate at home to Banbury United on Monday.

They will now end the regular campaign with a trip to Needham Market this Saturday.

Long is targeting a final victory to send them into the play-offs in good spirits.

He said: "In the end the point against Banbury was enough to secure us a play-off place.

"That is a massive achievement in itself and all the credit has to got to the players for that.

"Their attitude has been first class, they have put their bodies on the line week in, week out.

"We could still potentially win team of the month and when there is something to be won I want to win it.

"So we'll be going into the Needham game looking for the win and to carry that momentum into the play-offs.

"We'll probably shuffle the pack a little bit after the busy weekend.

"There are too many permutations on who we might get so we'll just concentrate on ourselves."

On successive draws last weekend, he added: "I was disappointed against Stourbridge that we didn't come away with the three points.

"I thought we had the better chances and should have been better once 2-0 up. It was frustrating the way we defended and the way we didn't deal with balls into our box.

"That is something you have to be able to do.

"Against Banbury it was a different game altogether because they just came to kill the tempo.

"That is music to our ears because when we have teams coming to Lye Meadow looking to do that it just shows how respected we have become at this level."

Josh March (groin) and Josh Ezewele (hamstring) will have injuries assessed ahead of the Needham market clash (3pm kick-off).