HALESOWEN skipper Wes Griffiths admits his side can afford few slips ups from now until the end of the season.

The Seth Somers Park outfit are once again looking up after a much-needed win at Fordhouses last Saturday boosted their Birmingham League Division Two promotion hopes.

But they still trail second placed Harborne by 25 points and Griffiths knows every game now takes on extra importance - starting with this weekend’s revenge mission against Water Orton.

He said: “We have got some big games coming up though in reality every game is a big game.

“If I’m honest we are trying not to look at the table and just take each match as it comes but even so we know we can’t afford to drop too many more points.

“The league is very tight and with 24 points for a win no-one is really out of contention at this stage.

“Water Orton beat us first time around at their place and we want to put that right.”

Saturday’s game was reduced to 46 overs per side thanks to the early morning rain, with the hosts deciding to bat after winning the toss.

That seemed a poor decision when, despite an opening stand of 66 between Scott Richards (40) and Josh Giddins (40), they slumped to 127-7 thanks to Asif Khan’s 5-43.

A late innings recovery saw them eventually post 180-8 and Hales found themselves on shaky ground during their reply at 66-2 following the departure of AJ Weerappuli for a duck.

But Khan secured the man-of-the-match award with a vibrant 69 not out to steer the visitors home with two overs to spare.

Griffiths was full of praise for the overseas star.

He added: “He showed a great deal of maturity and hopefully some of our younger guys took note of how he paced his innings.”

Sunday sees attention at Seth Somers Park turn to the annual Paul McCann memorial game.

For the fourth year running a Halesowen Select XI will play the Royal Navy with all proceeds going to the Paul McCann Fund for Needy Children.

Gates open at 11.30am and admission is free.